SEOUL Oct 14 Kyodo A five-member ...

SEOUL Oct 14 Kyodo

A five-member toward the south Korean government delegation headed by means of Unification Minister Jeong Se Hyun arrived in Pyongyang forward Tuesday for the 12th cabinet-level talks with North Korea, according to a southern Korean pool report from the North Korean capital.

The sum of two units Koreas are scheduled to render free of access a full session at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the People's Palace of agriculture The North Korean team is headed through Kim Ryong Song, a senior cabinet councillor.

In the ministerial talks that will last until Friday, southerly Korea is expected to focus efforts onward drawing North Korea back to the table for multilateral sessions to discuss resolving the dispute through the North's nuclear arms disentanglement program.

''We will talk to the North Korean side about the necessity of holding the secondary round of six-party talks soon'' Jeong told reporters before departing for Pyongyang.

Jeong also said the couple sides would use the talks to review progres in inter-Korean intends such as the reconnection of across-the-border railways and roads and the establishment of an industrial compound in North Korea.

The ministerial-level talks have been the highest-level channel of communication between the pair Koreas since the landmark inter-Korean summit between then southern Korean President Kim Dae Jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in June 2000

The first circular of six-nation talks held in Beijing in late August failed to yield a fixed date and venue for a inferior round. The gathering brought together the brace Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

It remains unclear when a next to the first round of talks will be held as North Korea freshly darkened prospects for an early resumption of similar talks, saying it is not interested in more talks forward the nuclear crisis that flared a year ago.

In what is seen as an apparent hardening of its position, North Korea said earlier this month it had redirected plutonium extracted from thousands of exhausted nuclear fuel rods to help enhance its deterrent capability.

North Korea also said last week it would bar Japan from taking part in further six-party talks, a statement Japan cast asideed as invalid.

The toward the south Korean delegates, accompanied by support personnel and journalists, touched down at Pyongyang's Sunan airport around 3 pm aboard a direct chartered flight that flew athwart the Yellow Sea for about an hour.

The mission is scheduled to attend a banquet to be armed forceed by Kim Yong Nam, chairman of the Presidium of the leading People's Assembly, on Tuesday night at Mansudae Art Theater.

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