South Korea rejects North's invitation to extend summit
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun rejected a proposal by the North Korean leader on Wednesday to extend their summit meeting for another day, South Korea's YTN television reported.
And in a pool report from Pyongyang, a presidential spokesman said Roh would issue a joint statement with North Korea's Kim Jong-il on Thursday and return to Seoul that day as scheduled.
No reason was given but earlier Roh was quoted as telling reporters in Pyongyang that he felt a "wall, hard to tear down" in his talks with Kim.
"(The North) does not completely trust South Korea. To actively proceed with the things we want to do, we need to overcome this wall of mistrust," a pool report quoted Roh as saying.
He cited as an example Pyongyang's dissatisfaction with the speed of development of an industrial park run by the South in Kaesong, a former royal capital just north of the border between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war.
A South Korean spokesman quoted Kim Jong-il as saying at the end of a meeting with Roh: "We have had sufficient dialogue so it (another day) may not be necessary. You have people waiting in the South so let's do it as we had planned."
A South Korean presidential spokesman said earlier in Seoul that Kim had proposed adding an extra day to the summit, only the second in more than 60 years of national division so that their talks could be more substantive and relaxed.
The three-day meeting comes amid news of an imminent deal between North Korea and regional powers to unwind Pyongyang's nuclear arms programme and put an end to years of bluster, threats and diplomatic wrangling.
Late on Tuesday, the United States suggested that the international community was close to a deal that would lead to massive aid for the North and an end to its isolation if it finally gives up its ambition to become a nuclear weapons power.
The chief U.S. envoy to nuclear talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States said he expected a draft statement in the next day or two on a timetable to disable North Korea's Soviet-era nuclear complex by the end of this year.
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