Friday, September 16 2005 14:22 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

North and South Korea pledged today (Sept 16, 2005) to work to ensure peace and reduce military tensions on their divided peninsula.

The two sides "Agreed to make efforts to ensure solid peace on the Korean Peninsula and actively seek practical ways to ease military tension," the statement said.

They also agreed to stage more reunions of families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War and hold their next Cabinet-level talks on South Korea's Jeju Island in December, according to the statement cited in a pool report from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

The divided states remain technically at war because their conflict in the 1950s ended with a truce rather than a peace treaty, but exchanges have flourished since a historic meeting between their leaders in 2000.

The two sides also agreed to continue talks by their respective Red Cross societies to determine the fate of southern prisoners from the Korea War that the South says are still held in the North.

The ministerial talks, the highest-level regular contacts between the divided states, have been overshadowed by six-nation negotiations under way in Beijing aimed at getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme.

South Korea has used the bilateral talks this week to urge the communist North to compromise with the United States to resolve the nuclear issue.