Koreas call for implementation of nuclear agreement

The two Koreas today called for an international agreement under which North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons programmes to be “implemented soon,” but South Korea failed to get a firm commitment from the North to return to six-nation arms negotiations.

South Korea has sought, at Cabinet-level talks with the North that began on Tuesday, to lure the North back to the six-nation nuclear talks. Progress on the North’s disarmament has stalled since a breakthrough agreement in September in which the communist nation agreed to abandon its nuclear programmes in exchange for security guarantees and aid.