Korean peace talks collapse

April 21, 1997
Web posted at: 11:55 p.m. EDT (0355 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- South Korea's top negotiators returned home from peace talks after scheduled meetings in New York with North Korean counterparts collapsed.

North Koreans insisted they could not accept the proposal for peace talks without accompanying guarantees of badly needed food aid, South Korean sources said.

But U.S. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said the U.S. will not link food aid to North Korea's participation in peace talks.

U.S. officials said the offer of peace talks involving the three countries plus China still stands. And South Korean sources said officials would keep pursuing agreement. The two countries have tried for a year to begin negotiations on a treaty to replace the 1953 armistice which ended fighting in the Korean War.

 

Related stories:

• Scores of children dead in North Korea famine - April 8, 1997
• North Korea to decide soon on peace talks - April 8, 1997
• U.N. to double food aid to North Korea - March 18, 1997

Related sites:

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• Korea Herald
  • Hwang Arrives in Seoul; North Korea Defector Vows to Devote Self to Antiwar Effort
• North Korean Central News Agency
• North Korea Information
• KoreaNet

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