South Korea and North Korea agreed Saturday to seek a peaceful solution to the dispute over the North's suspected nuclear weapons program, but negotiators offered no specific steps.

South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun, right, gestures to his delegates, not shown, as North Korean delegation leader Kim Ryong Song reads a statement during the inter-Korean ministerial level talks in Seoul July 12, 2003. [AP]

A joint statement issued after all-night talks fell short of South Korean hopes it could persuade its northern neighbor to participate in multilateral talks involving the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

North Korea maintained its position that it wants one-on-one talks with the United States.

The nuclear dispute flared in October when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted it had a clandestine nuclear program in violation of a 1994 agreement with Washington.

The United States and its allies suspended fuel shipments promised under the 1994 deal, and Pyongyang retaliated by expelling U.N. monitors, restarting nuclear facilities and withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Saturday's statement in which the Koreas agreed to resolve their differences through an "appropriate method of dialogue" was a departure from the North's previously hostile rhetoric.

"The South and North expressed concern over the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula and agreed that joint efforts are needed to sustain peace and safety on the peninsula," negotiators said in the statement.

South Korea said it believed the meetings in Seoul "created the atmosphere" for North Korea's participation in multilateral talks.

South Korea has warned that it might curtail reconciliation efforts with the North if the North does not take action to ease tensions over its nuclear development.

But delegates at the Cabinet-level talks in Seoul agreed to hold temporary reunions of separated family members around a national holiday in September, as well as another round of high-level talks in October.

They also agreed to hold talks in Seoul next month on economic projects.

The countries' joint statement said the two countries would cooperate in enabling civic groups from both sides to celebrate the anniversary of the Korean Peninsula's Aug. 15, 1945, liberation from Japanese colonial rule.

They also agreed to consider ending "slanderous broadcasts" against each other at the tense Demilitarized Zone separating them. Over the decades, the two countries have blasted patriotic songs and other programs over loudspeakers in a form of psychological warfare.

The negotiators also said they would cooperate in the groundbreaking for a permanent center for reunions of families separated when Korea was divided, but no date was set.

Since a historic summit of their leaders in 2000, the countries periodically have staged temporary reunions for Koreans separated from their loved ones since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Cabinet-level talks scheduled for October would be the 12th round since the 2000 summit.

Negotiators planned to release a joint statement Friday afternoon, but disagreed on the wording. The document is not legally binding.

The two sides have previously issued pledges to cooperate in resolving the nuclear crisis, but a solution does not appear imminent.

Separately, the United States said Friday it still wants the UN. Security Council to condemn North Korea's nuclear program despite the North's efforts to persuade member nations not to take sides on the issue.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said the Bush administration has no plans to withdraw a draft statement condemning North Korea's nuclear program and demanding its immediate destruction.

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