Koreas' talks stall over detained worker

SEOUL, April 21 (UPI) -- Talks between North and South Korea have been delayed over the detention of a South Korean worker, officials said Tuesday.

Seven representatives of South Korea went into the North Korean border city of Kaesong Tuesday, but emerged hours later saying they hadn't sat down with their northern counterparts, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

Pyongyang proposed the talks last week, saying it had an "important notice" to regarding the jointly operated industrial park in Kaesong, where a South Korean worker has been held for four weeks for criticizing North Korea's political system.

"We don't want to act against our principles," South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said. "Our biggest concern is the safety of our citizen and the stable development of the Kaesong industrial park."

South Korean officials said they would remain in Kaesong until Wednesday if North Korea agrees, Kim said.

Relations between the Koreas have been frosty since conservative Lee Myung-bak became president of South Korea in 2008. Tensions increased after the U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea's rocket launch on April 5. In response Pyongyang expelled international nuclear monitors and walked away from denuclearization talks.

North Korea recently warned South Korea against its plan to enlarge its role in a U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, calling it as a "declaration of war."