Ministers from South Korea and North Korea ended talks today without agreeing on an anti-terror declaration sought by Seoul after the attacks on the United States, South Korea said.
South Korean spokesman Mr Rhee Bong-jo confirmed the two sides failed to produce the statement but said a North Korean statement condemning the attacks last week had made its position very clear .
North Korea, which Washington placed on a blacklist of states accused of sponsoring terrorism in 1988, called the New York and Washington attacks "regretful and tragic".
South Korea wanted the two sides to issue a joint ant-terrorism statement at ministerial talks - their first meetings since Pyongyang froze ties in March.
But South Korean opposition leaders and newspapers said North Korea must apologise for the 1987 mid-air bombing of a Korean Air jet that killed 115 people and a 1983 blast in Burma that killed 18 South Korean officials.
Pyongyang is the chief suspect in both attacks.