The rupture came as the sides were unable to narrow differences on thorny issues, such as the North's launch of seven missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2, into waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan last week. Seoul tried to persuade the reclusive North to return to international negotiations over its nuclear ambitions while also urging it to resume its self-imposed moratorium on missile tests during the high-level dialogue that began on Tuesday. The North Koreans largely avoided discussing the missile issue, only claiming their country's military-first, or "Songun," policy provided protection for the South as well, a claim immediately rejected by Seoul's chief delegate, Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok. In a statement distributed to South Korean journalists here, the North Korean officials said the rupture was the result of what they called Seoul's "reckless" attempts to raise irrelevant issues. "The North-South ministerial talks are not military talks, and they are in no way the six-party (nuclear disarmament) talks," the statement said. The North Koreans claimed they were left with no dialogue partners from the South even though they went through the trouble "to come to Busan for the 19th round of North-South ministerial talks, due to the South Korean side's unreasonable" attempts. "Under such circumstances, our delegation was no longer able to stay in Busan," it said, adding the country would "sternly settle accounts" with the South for causing the rupture. South Korean delegates, however, said the early closure was because the North Koreans did not see any possibility of additional aid for their impoverished country, and said the talks were, at least partially, successful for the South. "The North Korean side expressed their position that additional negotiations would be unnecessary under the circumstance that additional humanitarian aid they need would be impossible," Lee Kwan-se, a Unification Ministry official, said in a press briefing following the closing session. Seoul said before the start of the inter-Korean dialogue that it would not make any additional commitments for economic or humanitarian assistance for the communist state until the dispute over the North's missile tests and boycott of the nuclear negotiations are fully and peacefully resolved. "The government has said (additional assistance for the North) would be suspended until we begin to see definite signs of an exit out of the (missile) crisis," a ranking official told reporters, asking not to be identified considering the sensitivity of the issue. "As to what the exit is, the most important thing is the North's return to the six-party talks," the official added. The official claimed the South Korean delegates to the inter-Korean talks achieved what they aimed for, although an agreement from the North to return to the nuclear negotiations would have been a better outcome. "As the government has said before, the ministerial talks are an important channel for us to relay our position on the missile crisis and urge the North's return (to the nuclear negotiations) and that is what we did." The official also said the South Korean delegates were able to relay concerns of the international community, especially the United States, over the North's missile launches "directly to the North's leadership." Pyongyang has been staying away from the nuclear negotiations since a November round despite repeated calls from its southern neighbor and other participants to resume the negotiations aimed at bringing a peaceful end to the nuclear dispute. The talks also involve China, Japan, Russia and the U.S. Busan, July 13 (Yonhap News)
