Koreas Agree to 'Appropriate' Talks on Nuclear Row

[Nambe]

SEOUL (Reuters)

North and South Korea said on Saturday they had agreed to pursue "appropriate dialogue" to resolve the dispute over the communist North's nuclear weapons programs.

"South Korea and North Korea will resolve the nuclear issue peacefully through appropriate dialogue," said a statement issued after three days of ministerial talks in Seoul.

"This is necessary to maintain peace and security on the Korean peninsula," said the first clause of the six-point statement that also pledged reunions of divided families and new rounds of ministerial and economic talks in coming months.

The vague nuclear statement came after marathon overnight negotiations that failed to bridge the gap between Seoul and Pyongyang. Seoul wanted multilateral talks involving the Koreas, the United States, Japan and China, while Pyongyang insisted on direct one-to-one talks with the United States. ---