N. Korean delegation arrives in S. Korea for ministerial talks

SEOUL, May 29 Kyodo

A North Korean delegation arrived in Seoul on Tuesday to attend the 21st round of ministerial talks with South Korea to be held for three days from Wednesday.

The two sides are expected to discuss ways to promote national reconciliation and inter-Korean projects in the talks, which will be the first held at the level of ministers since the previous round was held in February in Pyongyang.

The North Korean delegation headed by Chief Cabinet Councilor Kwon Ho Ung arrived in Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, shortly after 4 p.m. on a North Korean flag carrier Air Koryo flight directly from Pyongyang.

The North Koreans are to attend a banquet later Tuesday. The full-scale session will kick off Wednesday morning in a Seoul hotel, with Unification Minister Lee Jae Joung heading the South Korean delegation.

The latest round of talks is expected to face rough sailing in view of the South's decision last week to delay the shipment of rice aid to the North until it shuts down its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon as promised in February in the six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

South Korea approved spending earlier this month for the rice aid worth $170 million and raw materials worth $80 million for North Korea to make soap, footwear and clothing. It was to begin transferring 400,000 tons of the rice in late May in the form of a loan to be paid back over 30 years following a 10-year grace period.

But Seoul has made its food aid conditional on Pyongyang's fulfillment of its obligation to start denuclearization steps in return for energy aid within 60 days of the Feb. 13 nuclear deal.

Pyongyang failed to meet the April 14 deadline to begin shutting down its nuclear facility, citing a financial dispute with the United States over roughly $25 million in North Korea-linked funds that were frozen at a Macao bank. That impasse remains unresolved.

The ministerial talks between the two Koreas have been held 20 times since a landmark inter-Korean summit in June 2000 in Pyongyang between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and then South Korean President Kim Dae Jung.

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