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SEOUL, Jan. 22 (AFP) - South and North Korea opened high-level talks here Wednesday to forge ahead with reconciliation projects set back by the crisis over the Stalinist North's nuclear ambitions.

The cabinet-level meeting was to focus on reconciliation and humanitarian issues but South Korea, a traditional US ally, wants the nuclear crisis on the agenda.

North Korea has called the nuclear standoff a bilateral issue between it and the United States alone, insisting intervention by other countries would only complicate matters.

The two Koreas are engaged in three separate rounds of talks this week. Red Cross talks began Monday in the North's Kumgang resort, and negotiations on a stalled project to open cross-border railway and road links were to begin Wednesday in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

South Korea, which seeks a peaceful resolution to the deepening crisis, has offered to play a leading role in resolving the stand-off but officials here acknowledge Seoul's limited influence on Pyongyang.

The two Koreas resumed a series of reconciliation projects last year, but progress has been hampered by the nuclear crisis that escalated in December when Pyongyang threatened to reactivate its mothballed nuclear programs. 

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