By Joint Press Corps & Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

KAESONG, North Korea _ South and North Korea on Tuesday agreed to jointly observe the fifth anniversary of the inter-Korean summit in 2000, with the South sending a government-level delegation to Pyongyang, officials said.

However, the two Koreas engaged in late-night negotiations, falling short of a package deal that includes agreements on major agenda, including the resumption of inter-Korean ministerial talks and a new round of temporary reunion of separated families.

South Korea proposed to the North the ministerial meeting before June 15 so the two sides could discuss details for the joint events to be held in mid-June in the North Korean capital.

North Korea agreed in principle on the proposal that the ministerial talks should be resumed, but remained reluctant on the South’s position that a fixed schedule should be included in a written agreement which chief delegates from the two sides were to sign.

Since the historic inter-Korean summit in June 2000, Cabinet ministers of the two sides had met 14 times shuttling their capitals. But North Korea unilaterally cancelled the next scheduled meeting last August amid deteriorated relations due to a couple of events that angered Pyongyang.

On the second day of vice ministerial talks here, Seoul continued to persuade Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks to end the international standoff over its nuclear weapons program.

The meeting between authorities of the two Korea, the first after a 10-month hiatus, came amid signs that the international community was losing patience with the North. The six-party talks have stalled for nearly a year.

Seoul, which promised a new ``important proposal’’ on Monday, urged Pyongyang for the second consecutive day to return to the six-party talks. But, the North Korean delegates kept mum and only ``listened’’ as they did on the first day.

A South Korean official indicated that North Koreans have been refusing to include any words related to the nuclear issue in the written agreement.

At the request of the North for 500,000 tons of fertilizer, South Korea said it would first offer 200,000 tons as the country did every year and an additional provision could be discussed in a ministerial meeting it has proposed by June 15.

Delegates from the two sides, however, engaged in last-minute negotiations over topics such as the exact schedule for the inter-Korean ministerial talks, South Korea’s fertilizer aid to the North and the nuclear issue.

``We will continue to discuss such topics as the nuclear issue, the schedule for inter-Korean dialogue and the fertilizer aid,’’ Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo, chief Southern delegate, said after a morning session with his counterpart, Kim Man-gil.

But the afternoon session scheduled right after a luncheon didn’t begin until 3:20 p.m. as the two sides remained adamant in asserting their own positions, according to the officials. The second session lasted only 30 minutes and the meeting was extended late into the evening.

Kaesong was the initial venue for armistice negotiations that eventually ended hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War. The armistice accord was later signed at the border village of Panmunjom, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr