SEOUL — The ninth ministerial talks between South and North Korea concluded Jan. 23 after four days of little progress on the nuclear issue.

In a joint statement, the two Koreas said that they agreed to work together to resolve the nuclear dispute peacefully. But the statement indicated little progress, given that the two sides issued a similar pledge during their previous talks in October in Pyongyang.

At this most recent talk in Seoul, the South pressed the North to release a statement confirming specific action plans to defuse nuclear tensions. But those efforts hit a snag when the North insisted that the statement include the words, “national unity against outside forces,” an apparent reference to the United States.

South Korean officials said they tried to obtain a concrete promise from the North on the basis of their limited success at the last ministerial talks, during which they had agreed to seek a peaceful solution to the issue.

“The South and North will make joint efforts to guarantee peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and will actively cooperate to solve nuclear and all other issues through dialogue,” said the statement released after the Pyongyang talks.

The meeting followed on the heels of the U.S. revelation that the North has been running a secret uranium enrichment program. But no agreement could be made between the South and North Korean representatives at this first high-level talk since the North withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty last month. The North did reaffirm that it has no intention of making nuclear bombs and that its nuclear activities aim to generate electricity to resolve an energy shortage.

Apart from the nuclear issue, South and North Korea fine-tuned their schedules for proceeding with opening an overland route to the North’s Mt. Geumgang, establishing an industrial complex in the North’s southern border city of Gaeseong and reconnecting border-crossing rail and road links.

Lim Dong Won, special adviser to President Kim Dae Jung for national security and unification, is scheduled to leave for Pyongyang in late January to see if he, as special envoy, can reach a breakthrough in resolving the North’s nuclear issue. During his three-day visit to Pyongyang, Lim is expected to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to deliver a personal letter from President Kim calling for a peaceful settlement of the nuclear standoff.

Unification Minister Jeong Se Hyun said Lim may base his consultations with Pyongyang officials on the results of the latest ministerial talks in Seoul. 

Lim’s trip comes at a time when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) may hold an emergency meeting to decide whether to refer the North’s nuclear issue to the United Nations Security Council. South Korea called on the IAEA Saturday to postpone their board meeting until the results of the South Korean envoy’s trip to Pyongyang are known.

“There is no reason for the IAEA to rush the board meeting as we are sending a special envoy and international efforts (to resolve the issue) are being made,” a Foreign Ministry official said. The official said the Seoul government conveyed the message to the IAEA and that the government may receive a reply soon.