Talks between rival Koreas collapse

Military talks aimed at easing tensions between South and North Korea collapsed during their second day when the North withdrew from discussions, according to a South Korean government official. The rival Koreas began discussions on Tuesday, in the border village of Panmunjom, the first talks since the North's shelling of a South Korean island in November. Talks collapsed at 2.50pm local time on Wednesday, the South Korean defence ministry said. It said "the northern side crossed back over the military demarcation line, unilaterally, and didn't even inform [the South] of their actions", Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett reported from Seoul, South Korea's capital. Fawcett said South Korea declined to comment further, but unofficially and anonymously, government officials said disagreements emerged around each side's preferred agenda for the talks. The South wanted to ensure that the agenda focused on the North's sinking of a South Korean ship, that killed 46 sailors in March, as well as the North's shelling of the disputed island of Yeonpyeong,. The North has said the South provoked the shelling of Yeonpyeong by firing artillery rounds into its water during a military drill. In the current talks, North Korea wanted much wider discussions on military provocations and trying to defuse tensions between the neighbours, Southern officials said.