South Korea failed to persuade the North to return to the multilateral talks on ending its nuclear programmes but the two sides agreed today on railway links, family reunions and Red Cross meetings.In a joint statement issued at the end of the first senior-level meeting between the two, Seoul and Pyongyang reiterated existing positions on the nuclear crisis.‘‘Both sides agreed to actively cooperate on a peaceful resolution to the nuclear issue,’’ it said. But it did not mention when North Korea would head back to the table to continue negotiating a deal to scrap its nuclear weapons programmes in exchange for aid, security assurances and diplomatic recognition.South Korean officials said they had wanted to try to prod North Korea back to the six-party talks at the meeting in Cheju, South Korea, that started on Tuesday. But at the ministerial meeting, North Korea accused the US of blocking a return to the nuclear talks by adopting a hostile policy toward it, a South Korean Unification Ministry official said.The next round of the nuclear talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the US was likely to be held in January, sources said, but Pyongyang has threatened to boycott the discussions. —Reuters
