Two Koreas reunion talks cancelled

Before family reunions began last year, families divided by the Korean War had been separated for 50 years

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SEOUL, South Korea -- The South Korean Red Cross has said talks with North Korea on holding further family reunions have been canceled.

In the latest setback for reconciliation between the former enemies, a South Korean Red Cross official said a fourth round of family meetings would not go ahead.

The Korean families were split when the peninsula was divided by war half a century ago. But leaders from both sides agreed to try to end their decades-long confrontation following a historic summit in June last year.

"The North Korean side did not communicate to us their position on the Red Cross talks, making it impossible to hold the fourth round of meetings," a spokesman for the South Korean Red Cross said.

"We will monitor the situation in the North, but we do not know when or how we will contact them again."

Late last month, South Korea's Red Cross proposed a new round of reunion talks in Seoul following three successful rounds.

Before these reunions there had only been one officially sanctioned meeting of members of some divided families, in 1985 when 50 people from each side were allowed to meet long-lost relatives. The two Koreas are technically at war since it ended in an armed truce instead of a peace agreement. The border has remained sealed off since the war and all forms of communication between the people of the two Koreas are banned.

Bush stalls

Inter-Korean projects have stalled since the new Bush administration adopted a tougher stance towards the North

Despite steady progress last year, inter-Korean projects have stalled since U.S. President George W. Bush said last month Washington had no plans to resume talks with North Korea.

The U.S. considers North Korea a rogue state and part of the reason why it needs to implement a missile defense system.

Bush has also questioned whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-il would honor any new arms control pact.

North Korea called off cabinet-level talks with the South hours before they began, prompting speculation the North was upset by tougher talk from the new U.S. administration.

Warming ties

The abrupt cancellation was a blow to warming relations on the divided Korean peninsula. It also heightened South Korean perception that President Bush's decision to review the former Clinton administration's North Korea policy is slowing the fitful process of reconciliation.

Relations between North Korea and the United States had began to warm toward the end of Bill Clinton's administration.

The former U.S. president almost visited Pyongyang in his final days in office to seal a deal that would have mothballed the communist nation's long-range missile program in exchange for better ties with Washington.

The United States has 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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