There was no response from Kwon Ho-ung, the head of the North Korean delegation, on most of these points. The military talks were agreed in principle during Chung’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il last Friday, while the matter of the POWs and abductees was agreed to during Red Cross talks in September 2002. Kwon only commented on the family reunions slated for August 15.

Kwon instead asked for continuing food aid from South Korea because of a serious shortage in the North. Rice aid will reportedly total about 400,000 tons. If a quarter of the rice is Korean and three quarters from Southeast Asia as in previous years, the cost would be about W140 billion (US$140 million).

Turning to the dispute over its nuclear program, the North Korean delegation repeated remarks by Kim Jong-il that Pyongyang will not need a single nuclear weapon if Washington treats it “in a friendly manner.” But it made no comment about a call from Chung to restart six-party talks on its nuclear program in July and discuss the nuclear dispute during inter-Korean ministerial talks.

Meanwhile, President Roh Moo-hyun will meet four or five members of the delegation including Kwon at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday. The presidential office was careful to point out that the delegation is not acting as a special envoy for Kim Jong-il.

This will be the first time in four years North Korean figures have set foot in Cheong Wa Dae since a North Korean delegation for the fifth inter-Korean ministerial talks met with then-president Kim Dae-jung. The meeting reportedly comes at the president's request.

(englishnews@chosun.com )