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SEOUL: North Korea's killing of a South Korean tourist should not be allowed to disrupt international nuclear disarmament talks which include the two nations, Seoul's envoy to the forum said Thursday.
Kim Sook said in an interview with Seoul-based PBC radio the two issues must be handled separately.
A North Korean soldier last Friday shot dead a 53-year-old South Korean housewife who strayed into a closed military area near Mount Kumgang resort.
The killing has further soured relations, with the North refusing the South permission to send an investigation team.
Local media have urged Seoul to use whatever leverage it has at the six-party talks to resolve the shooting controversy.
South Korea is in charge of a working group on providing energy aid to the North in return for the disabling of its atomic plants.
"As the energy aid for the North is in the context of the six-party talks and a joint probe of the incident in Mount Kumgang is a bilateral inter-Korean issue, it is somewhat dangerous to confuse these," Kim told the radio.
"It is not desirable to link it to other issues in a complex way."
At six-party talks ending last Saturday, the North agreed to finish disabling its main plants by the end of October and to allow thorough verification.
In contrast to progress in the nuclear talks - which involve China as host, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia - inter-Korean relations have become increasingly strained in recent months.
- AFP/yb
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