Seoul and Washington to Hold Unofficial Missile Talks Monday

South Korea and the United States will hold unoffical talks on extending Seoul's missile range in Seoul Monday, an official from the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry said Friday.

"The talks will focus on issues which both sides have so far failed to bridge," said the official, "but it looks unlikely that they will reach a full agreement."

Robert Einhorn, U.S. assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation, and his South Korean counterpart, Song Min-sun, director general at the ministry's North American Affairs Bureau, will head the talks.

In previous talks the two sides agreed in princle for Seoul to develop missiles "to the extent to meet its security needs." A full agreement would enable South Korea to produce and deploy missiles with a 300-km range and 500-kg payload, and also to build missiles with a range of up to 500 km for research purposes.

by Lee Chul-hee