"Under the current situation, we can say the talks have collapsed," the South Korean official said.

Military talks between two Koreas collapsed on Wednesday, as the Northern delegation walked out, Southern defense ministry said.

A ministry spokesman told AFP news agency the North\'s negotiators crossed the borderline 10 minutes after walking out of the meeting. "They even failed to discuss when to meet again," he said.
"Under the current situation, we can say the talks have collapsed."

The spokesman said he had no immediate details of the cause of the breakdown. The South had been demanding an apology for two border incidents last year which killed 50 South Koreans.
It was the first cross-border dialogue since the North\'s deadly shelling of a South Korean island on November 23, which killed two marines and two civilians, sparking fears of war.

"The talks collapsed over differences over the agenda for high-level talks," a defense ministry official was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
A ministry official quoted by YTN television said the atmosphere "was quite charged with emotion".

Earlier Wednesday the South said it had agreed in principle to hold separate Red Cross talks on reunions for separated families. But it linked those talks to progress in the military dialogue.
The South insisted that the proposed high-level military talks discuss both the warship sinking and the shelling. It stressed that better relations would come only after the North apologizes and punishes those responsible for them, a defense ministry statement said.

But the North proposed the agenda focus on "the stoppage of all military actions that can be considered as provocative acts by the other side".
The North flatly denies any involvement in the sinking of the South\'s  warship.