SEOUL- TALKS between North and South Korea on security measures for joint economic projects broke up on Friday without agreement, the defence ministry said.
The working-level four-hour meeting at the border truce village of Panmunjom failed even to set the date for a next session, a ministry spokesman said.
South Korean officials had said the meeting would discuss ways to ease travel, customs clearance and communications at the Seoul-funded Kaesong industrial estate just north of the closely guarded border.
A regular cross-border freight train service to Kaesong started in early December for the first time since the 1950-53 Korean War.
At a rare summit last October leaders of the two nations agreed in principle on sweeping joint economic projects. But there has been little practical progress since then.
High-level military talks ended last month without agreement on a proposed joint fishing area to avert clashes in the Yellow Sea, due to disputes over where the sea border should run.
Seoul's unification ministry said separately that working-level talks on broader railway cooperation will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday at Kaesong.
The two-day meeting was originally scheduled to start on Tuesday this week, but the North proposed a delay on the grounds it needed more time to prepare.
The postponement sparked speculation that Pyongyang wants to delay dialogue until it assesses the incoming conservative government of president-elect Lee Myung Bak.
Mr Lee, who takes office on February 25, has promised a firmer stance with the North and has said he will review the summit projects.
At next week's talks, officials are scheduled to discuss a summit project for the South to repair the dilapidated railway up to North Korea's border with China.
The two leaders had agreed to send a train of supporters to the Beijing Olympics this year. -- AFP
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Inter-Korean military talks end without agreement: officials 
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