Korean talks stall on start line
North and South Korea ended talks today in the communist country over a troubled industrial project shortly after they began as officials spent most of the day in a procedural stand-off.
The meeting came amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula after international condemnation of North Korea’s rocket launch this month and its decision to restart its nuclear program and withdraw from negotiations aimed at disarmament.
A Unification Ministry spokeswoman said that the talks began at the Kaesong Industrial Complex across the border in North Korea after hours of wrangling over how they should be conducted. They ended just 22 minutes later.
They marked the first government-to-government dialogue between the sides since conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in February last year with a pledge to get tough with Pyongyang and its nuclear ambitions.
The difficulty over getting the talks started underlines how poor relations are between the two countries.
