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2 Koreas wrap up talks with no breakthrough

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-22 09:33

SEOUL -- Officials of South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) ended a rare governmental dialogue on Tuesday without significant breakthrough.

The talks, which was the first time that the two sides hold government dialogue since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in February last year, lasted only 22 minutes at DPRK' s border city of Kaesong, said Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun.

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During the brief official contact, which was delayed by 12 hours due to procedural disputes between the two sides, delegates from South Korea and the DPRK presented stances on the inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong and inter-Korean ties without in-depth exchange of their views, local media reported.

According to a news release by the South Korean Presidential Office, the DPRK announced to reconsider the contract with South Korean authorities and South Korean companies over the inter-Korean industrial complex and demanded higher payment for DPRK labors working in the complex.

At the talks, the South Korea sides appealed that the DPRK should refrain from actions worsening the tensions over the Korean Peninsula, urging the release of a South Korean citizen detained by the DPRK authorities in Kaesong, the news release said.

South Korea also asked the DPRK to stop criticism over South Korean leader and hold more inter-Korean governmental talks to resolve bilateral disputes, the news release said.

Kim Young-tak, director general of the Kaesong Industrial Complex Project Bureau under the South Korean Unification Ministry, led a 7-member delegation to participate in Tuesday's talks.

The DPRK offered to hold the talks last Thursday. Seoul accepted the proposal later.

Tuesday's inter-Korean talks came amid mounting tensions over the Korean Peninsula. The South Korean government announced last Saturday it will not declare a full participation in the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) before Tuesday's inter- Korean talks.

The DPRK has repeatedly warned to take stern countermeasures if South Korea fully joins the PSI, denouncing Seoul's full participation in the PSI as a "declaration of war."