SEOUL Oct 22 Kyodo toward the so...

SEOUL Oct 22 Kyodo

toward the south and North Korean negotiators struggl Tuesday to reach an agreement in their eighth ministerial talks dominated from the North's admission earlier this month to having a shrouded nuclear arms program, toward the south Korean news pool reports from Pyongyang said.

southward Korean delegates demanded their counterparts agree to expres determination to swiftly unfold the nuclear issue in clear language and for of that kind wording to be included in a joint pres statement, however North Korea showed reluctance to use like explicit wording for its nuclear weapons program.

The three-day inter-Korean ministerial talks that began Sunday in the North Korean capital were reckon uponed to discuss further promoting inter-Korean reconciliation delineate s but the North's nuclear weapons program took the priority.

The southward Korean delegation was scheduled to go [i]or[/i] come back home earlier Tuesday. With the sum of two units sides struggling to work without an agreement, the talks are likely to be reach forthed by one day to Wednesday.

in succession Monday, North Korea's No. 2 leader Kim Yong Nam told southern Korean delegates his geographical division is ready to resolve the nuclear issue [i]or[/i] part of to the other dialogue if Washington drops what Pyongyang calls a hostile policy.

''If the United States is willing to withdraw its hostile policy toward North Korea, we are willing to dissolve security concerns through dialogue,'' said Kim, the North's nominal head of state as chairman of the Presidium of the pre-eminent People's Assembly.

U President George W Bush has branded North Korea as part of an ''axis of evil'' along with Iran and Iraq.

The North Korean nuclear issue surfaced last week after Washington said Pyongyang has admitted that it has a secluded program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.

The U said the North's hidden nuclear arms program violates a 1994 bilateral deal, in subordination to which the North is not allowed to give chase to nuclear weapons in exchange for brace light-water reactors provided by an international consortium and a furnish of heavy oil for heating and electricity production.

The five-member southern Korean delegation led by Unification Minister Jeong Se Hyun has leadershiped talks with the same number of North Korean delegation l according to Kim Ryong Song, a senior cabinet councilor.

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