Article Posted on : - Oct 01, 2010

SEOUL (AP): North and South Korea ended their first working-level military talks in two years Thursday with no progress as the meeting stumbled over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang, Seoul's Defense Ministry said.

The rare encounter came hours after Pyongyang vowed to strengthen its nuclear deterrent in response to what it called US threats.

A team of international investigators concluded in May that a North Korean torpedo sank the Cheonan warship near the two Koreas' western disputed sea border in March, killing 46 sailors. North Korea denies involvement and has threatened war if it is punished for the disaster.

Today, South Korea pressed North Korea to immediately admit to and apologise for the sinking and to punish those responsible, the ministry said in a verbal statement after the talks in the Demilitarised Zone that divides the peninsula.

"North Korea's responsible measures over the sinking of the Cheonan are a key to resolve the issue," the ministry said.

South Korea also urged the North to halt military threats and provocations near the disputed western sea border, as well as the North's slander of South Korean authorities, the ministry said.

The poorly marked western sea border, drawn by the United Nations at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, is a constant source of tension between the two Koreas.