SEOUL (AFP) — North and South Korea achieved "good results" Wednesday in their first summit for seven years and have decided against extending their talks in Pyongyang, a spokesman for the Seoul government said.
The suggestion of a one-day extension came from the North's unpredictable leader Kim Jong-Il and caught South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun off guard.
Pool reports earlier said Roh had rejected the offer, but his spokesman Cheon Ho-Seon said Kim himself later dropped the idea after the pair made good progress in their talks.
Developments in six-nation nuclear talks may have warmed the mood.
North Korea, which tested an atomic bomb last October, has agreed to disable its key nuclear facilities and provide a complete list of all nuclear programmes by year-end, under a deal made public late Wednesday in Beijing.
The summit, only the second in the history of the communist North and capitalist South, aims to pave the way for peace after a half-century of hostility.
"We estimate that the talks were sufficient and candid and have achieved good results," Roh's spokesman said from Pyongyang.
"President Roh himself said he was satisfied with the outcome. We will be able to announce the outcome in the form of a declaration before tomorrow's farewell lunch."
Cheon said Kim himself withdrew his proposal to keep talking into Friday after "the talks proceeded well in a very good atmosphere and efficiently and reached agreement earlier than expected."
The pair shook hands in an apparently friendly manner after the talks ended, television footage showed.
Cheon gave no details of what was agreed but said some progress was made on a peace settlement, economic cooperation and reconciliation.
Seoul has said peace and prosperity would be the overriding themes of this week's meeting between two nations still technically at war following their 1950-53 conflict.
But any peace declaration would be mainly symbolic in the absence of a multilateral treaty formally ending the war which also involved the United States and China.
TV footage showed Roh, who had earlier spoken of disagreements and lack of trust, clearly taken aback by Kim's surprise suggestion of extending the talks. He said he would have to discuss any extension with his security and protocol teams.
"Can't you make a decision, Mr President?" responded a teasing Kim, whose own power in the hardline communist state is absolute.
But Cheon quoted Kim as saying later: "We had enough talks. I don't see any need to extend it. Your people are waiting for your return."
Roh later attended the Arirang Festival, a one-of-a-kind propaganda extravaganza in which up to 100,000 people perform in unison.
Conservatives have denounced his decision to go, saying it traditionally glorifies a sworn enemy. Seoul officials said the performance which Roh viewed had been toned down.
Roh gave Kim dozens of DVDs of South Korean films, which are banned for ordinary North Koreans, delighting the film buff leader.
Roh and Kim had a morning and an afternoon session of talks. Roh described his morning session as "honest and frank" but said the two sides had some disagreements and must learn to trust each other.
Roh said he and Kim "didn't share the same views in all aspects but I confirmed Kim's strong will to stabilise peace and the need to set a direction for the future."
There was no argument on the issues of reconciliation and unification, the South Korean leader said.
The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency said the meeting was held in the spirit of "a new phase in achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula, prosperity common to the nation and the reunification of the country."
Joint economic projects were believed to have been high on the agenda. The South's per capita income is almost 17 times higher than the North, where millions rely on international food aid.
The North wants the Seoul-funded industrial estate in its border city of Kaesong to be developed faster, Roh said.
The South sees Kaesong, which employs more than 13,000 North Koreans in 22 South Korean firms, as a flagship project to revive the North's moribund economy and ease the massive costs of any eventual reunification.
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