US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Seoul for discussions on North Korea's nuclear program, a day after high-level inter-Korean talks failed to resolve a row over looming South Korea-US military drills.
South Korea was Kerry's first stop on Thursday on an Asia tour that will also take him to China and Indonesia, with a focus on regional tensions stoked by China's territorial claims.
As well as discussing efforts to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, Kerry will be briefed in Seoul on a diplomatic initiative that saw the two Koreas sit down on Wednesday for their highest-level official talks since 2007.
The discussions ran late into the night, and ended without any tangible agreement or joint statement.
But the South's Unification Ministry said a second round would be held on Friday in the border truce village of Panmunjom where the armistice ending the 1950-53 Korean War was signed 60 years ago.
Although the talks have no fixed agenda, the South is focused on ensuring that a planned reunion later this month for family members separated by the war goes ahead as scheduled.
The February 20-25 event overlaps with the start of South Korea's annual joint military exercises with the United States, which Pyongyang has denounced as provocative.
On Wednesday, the North side demanded the joint drills be postponed until after the reunion was over, but the South's Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-Jae said the request had been turned down.
"The government made it clear this is unacceptable," Ryoo told parliament.
There was no immediate comment from North Korea.
