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Border row derails Korean talks | Border row derails Korean talks |
(20 minutes later) | |
High-level military talks between North and South Korea have broken down after the two sides failed to make progress on a long-running border dispute. | |
The North Korean side walked out of the talks after concluding that they were "fruitless", their chief delegate said. | |
North Korea wants the sea border to the west of the Korean Peninsula to be redrawn further south. | |
The area lies in rich fishing grounds and has been the scene of bloody naval clashes in the past. | |
Military discussions between the two Koreas have faltered in the past because of the ongoing dispute. | |
'Regrettable' | |
The three-day talks, in the truce village of Panmunjom, are the highest-level military dialogue between the two Koreas, who have not signed a peace treaty since the 1950-53 Korean War. | |
Issues such as preventing naval clashes and providing security for joint economic projects were also on the agenda, but analysts had expected that the sea border row would dominate proceedings. | |
Your side continued making this demand even though your side knows very well that our side cannot accept it Maj-Gen Jung Seung-joSouth Korean delegation head | |
Pyongyang does not recognise the border, known as the Northern Limit Line, which was drawn up by the UN at the end of the Korean War. | |
It is adamant that the border must be moved and accuses South Korean ships of repeatedly violating its territorial waters. | |
The area has been a trigger for clashes in the past. Six South Korean sailors were killed in one incident in June 2002. | |
"We've come to a conclusion that we don't need these fruitless talks any more," North Korean delegation leader Lt-Gen Kim Yong-chol said as the talks broke down. | |
The South Korean delegation head, Maj-Gen Jung Seung-jo, said it was "highly regrettable that we have to wrap up the three days of talks with no concrete results". | |
"Your side continued making this demand even though your side knows very well that our side cannot accept it," he said of the border issue. | |
The talks came amid a wider improvement in North Korea's ties with the outside world. | |
Last week it finally shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor after months of negotiations. | |
The closure was part of an international disarmament deal under which North Korea is to receive energy aid and political incentives in return for ending its nuclear programme. |
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