North, South Korea end talks without issuing statement

A deal breaker for the talks was a sharp division over dealing with the resumption of a suspended joint tour program at Mount Kumgang on the North’s east coast, analysts said.

The negotiations are the latest in a series of measures to improve relations after a tense standoff that began in August, when two South Korean soldiers were seriously hurt by landmine explosions along the border.

The last such sit-down, with the mandate to discuss a range of inter-Korean issues, took place almost two years ago.

Yonhap News Agency reported on the same day that Kim’s visit in May 9 Catfish Farm on Saturday was his first after he inspected the catfish farm in December past year.

The August accord also included family reunions in October organized at short notice in a bid to defuse the rising tensions.

During the talks, the South Korean side put its priority on issues including the confirmation on whether all divided families are still alive and the exchange of letters between the separated families as well as operations of the joint factory park in Kaesong, and the world peace park in the demilitarized zone, which South Korean President Park Geun-hye has proposed to build, Hwang said. Restarting the tours could provide a source of much-needed hard revenue for North Korea.

“Let’s make efforts to break down the barrier, fill up the cracks and make a new and wide road together”, Hwang Boo-gi told his North Korean counterpart Jon Jong-su as they shook hands at the talks venue on Friday.

“The government stressed that it is not proper to connect the issue of separated families to the resumption of the tour”, Hwang said.

DPRK is the acronym of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “The two sides have earned a chance to further think about how to resolve their pressing issues”, said Hong Hyun-ik, a senior researcher at Sejong Institute.

“At this point, the information that we have access to calls into serious question those claims, but we take very seriously the risk and the threat that is posed by the North Korean regime in their ambitions to develop a nuclear weapon”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a regular briefing. North Korea says the tests are for defensive purposes.

Previous efforts to establish a regular dialogue have also tended to falter after an initial meeting – reflecting decades of animosity and mistrust between two countries that have remained technically at war since the end of the 1950-53 Korean conflict.