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| North and South Korean government-level talks on hold | North and South Korean government-level talks on hold |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| South Korea has said high-level talks will not take place as scheduled with North Korea in Seoul on Wednesday. | South Korea has said high-level talks will not take place as scheduled with North Korea in Seoul on Wednesday. |
| The two sides agreed on Monday to the two-day talks, expected to focus primarily on joint economic projects. | The two sides agreed on Monday to the two-day talks, expected to focus primarily on joint economic projects. |
| But on the eve of the meeting, the two sides remained unable to agree on the composition of their delegations, officials in Seoul said. | But on the eve of the meeting, the two sides remained unable to agree on the composition of their delegations, officials in Seoul said. |
| The planned talks would follow months of tension in the region, after the North's third nuclear test in February. | |
| "There will be no talks tomorrow," a spokeswoman for South Korea's Unification Ministry told Agence-France Presse news agency. | |
| It was not immediately clear whether the talks, scheduled to take place at a hotel in Seoul, had been postponed or cancelled. | It was not immediately clear whether the talks, scheduled to take place at a hotel in Seoul, had been postponed or cancelled. |
| No consensus | |
| The two Koreas had exchanged undisclosed lists of their five representatives late on Tuesday, but could not reach a consensus, reports said. | |
| A South Korean official was earlier quoted by AFP as saying that the North had an issue with one of Seoul's delegates. | |
| It was previously reported that Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae would lead South Korea's team. But when Seoul asked Pyongyang to send his counterpart, Kim Yang-gon, North Korea refused the request. | |
| The last time the two Koreas held high-level talks was more than five years ago. | |
| The agreement to hold the talks - seen by analysts as a major development in itself - came in the early hours of Monday after lengthy preliminary discussions in the truce village of Panmunjom. | |
| The Kaesong joint industrial zone, which was shut down by the North in April as tensions escalated on the peninsula, was expected to be a main talking point. | |
| Kaesong, seen as a symbol of North-South co-operation, had run successfully for more than eight years. It is a key source of revenue for the North and the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade. | |
| About 53,000 North Korean workers are employed at the factory complex by more than 120 South Korean factories. | |
| But Pyongyang withdrew its workers from Kaesong in April, apparently angered by tightened UN sanctions after its 12 February nuclear test and annual South Korea-US military drills. | |
| Aside from Kaesong, the reunion of separated families and the resumption of tours to North Korea's Mount Kumgang were also up for discussion. |