Koreas try to find ways to reduce nuke tension

Chief delegates delayed a final wrap-up meeting as working-level officials haggled over the wording of a joint statement expected to be released later Friday.

"Each side perceives the nuclear issue in a very different way," said a South Korean unification ministry official close to the closed-door negotiations.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

Seoul's chief delegate, Unification Minister Jeong Se-Hyun, held informal talks overnight with his northern counterpart Kim Ryong-Song to urge Pyongyang to agree to multilateral discussions involving the United States and other countries to resolve the nuclear crisis, he said.

"The North's side gave no immediate response," the official added.

A final session of talks between Jeong and his North Korean counterpart was put off for several hours as working-level negotiators debated the wording of the joint statement. The North's team is to return home early Saturday.

Pyongyang has been holding out for one-on-one talks with Washington, but showed some flexibilty recently when it said that the dialogue format would no longer be an obstacle if the United States dropped its "hostile" policy.

But North Korea has yet to agree on multilateral talks, which the United States says must also include China, Japan and South Korea.

The nuclear crisis erupted in October when the United States disclosed North Korea had admitted to developing nuclear weapons in violation of a 1994 agreement that froze its atomic facilities in return for economic aid and other benefits.

South Korea used the high-level talks to put pressure on North Korea, stressing the urgency of holding multilateral nuclear talks.