2 Koreas Fail to Agree on Nuclear Checks; Will Try Again Feb. 27

In talks that lasted into the early morning hours today in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, North and South Korean delegates failed to agree on details of joint inspections of nuclear facilities.

Instead, they plan to meet next Thursday in the truce village of Panmunjom to try again to establish a joint nuclear control commission and to carry out an initial round of inspections.

Failure to reach a nuclear agreement dented the hopes of South Korean President Roh Tae Woo’s government. It occurred just after the two Koreas--longtime enemies that fought a war between 1950 and 1953--put into effect Wednesday historical agreements on reconciliation and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

A high government official in Seoul told Korean reporters that South Korea would cooperate on economic matters with the north only in line with progress made on the key issue of verifying that Pyongyang has given up attempts to produce nuclear weapons. “Economic cooperation, such as investment in the north, will be put off until after the complete resolution of the nuclear issue,” the official was quoted as saying.

Under an agreement ratified Wednesday, the two sides pledged to establish the joint nuclear control commission by March 19.

But South Korean Prime Minister Chung Won Shik, who traveled to Pyongyang on Tuesday, told the north that Seoul would regard Pyongyang’s response this week as a litmus test of its attitude on the nuclear issue as well as on overall rapprochement.

Lee Dong Bok, the South Korean delegation spokesman, told reporters in Pyongyang that “the agreement on the commission should be signed before we leave Pyongyang at the latest.” Chung and his party are to return to Seoul on Friday.

Shortly before the nuclear talks began in Pyongyang, Roh went on television in Seoul to “urge North Korea to clear itself of suspicions and misgivings about its development of nuclear weapons by promptly fulfilling its domestic and international obligations under the pertinent treaties and agreements.”