South Korea, October 17: South and North Korea failed to reach agreement overnight on holding more family reunions after Pyongyang sought humanitarian aid from Seoul, officials said.
The two sides “failed to bridge differences on their stances on further reunions” but agreed to arrange more talks, an official with Seoul’s unification ministry told Yonhap news agency.
“The North asked for humanitarian aid from the South. We told them that we will review it after returning (to the South),” the official said.
Earlier reports said the North was seeking “reciprocity” in return for holding more reunions of families separated since the 1950-53 war.
The talks at the North’s town of Kaesong were the second to be held this week after months of hostility.
During a meeting Wednesday on another issue, the North made a rare apology to the South for causing a cross-border flood that killed six people.
But Pyongyang also test-fired five missiles on Monday. On Thursday its navy accused the South of sending warships across the disputed sea border and warned of possible armed clashes.
As part of a series of conciliatory gestures which began in August, the communist state restarted a reunion program suspended for almost two years.
Hundreds of family members held brief emotional reunions in the North at the end of last month.
The South proposed holding more reunions next month and next February. It wants to put the program on a regular basis since many elderly people are dying before they have the chance to meet loved ones.
Seoul officials had predicted that North Korea, which was hit with tougher United Nations sanctions after nuclear and missile tests, would raise the issue of rice aid.
South Korea used to send around 440,000 tonnes of rice and 330,000 tonnes of fertiliser a year to its neighbour, which suffers persistent severe food shortages.
Relations worsened when a conservative administration took office in Seoul in February 2008 and there have been no government shipments since then.
The South says cross-border relations cannot fundamentally improve till the North agrees to scrap its nuclear program.
But Unification Minister Hyun In-Taek said Thursday that “limited humanitarian assistance will be provided regardless of the political and security situation”.
—Agencies