``We could not break down the barrier of mistrust,'' Jeong Se Hyun, chief negotiator of the South Korean delegation told correspondents after North Korea decided to boycott today's last round of talks here in the Chinese capital. Talks ended today without finalising a date for resumption of talks between North and South Korea.

North Korea informed the South at midnight yesterday that it was unnecessary to hold any more sessions, as the south stood firm by its position on the issue of fertiliser aid to North Korea.

According to officials from Pyongyang and Seoul, the difference of opinion between the two sides remains unchanged: North Korea wants the fertiliser first while South Korea insists that North Korea must fix a date for talks on the issue of reunion ofmillions of separated families after the Korean War during 1950-53.

Chun Kum Chun, North Korea's chief negotiator told newspersons at a press conference that his country wanted the fertiliser aid first to help relieve its natural disasters before taking up the issue of reunion of Korean families. ``South Korea is responsible for the failure to reach agreement because it politicised a humanitarian and economic issue,'' he said.

Chun said he was pessimistic about the future of talks with the new South Korean government of Kim Dae-Jung since Seoul would not give 200,000 tonnes of fertiliser aid to the North without any pre-conditions.

``The South demanded too much,'' he said, adding that Seoul's way of negotiating was ``to offer one bowl of rice for ten kilograms of beef,'' which he said was not acceptable to North Korea.