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SEOUL, South Korea - A high-level North Korean delegation arrived in South Korea for reconciliation talks Tuesday despite looming rifts over the North's nuclear program and South Korean rice shipments.

The Cabinet-level meetings - scheduled to run through Friday in Seoul - could plunge quickly into a stalemate if North Korea protests South Korea's move to delay rice aid until after the North acts on a February pledge to shut down its nuclear reactor.

North Korea angrily pulled out of similar talks last year when Seoul rebuffed its demand for rice aid following missile tests by the North in July. Ties were further strained by North Korea's first nuclear test in October.

The reconciliation process got back on track after North Korea promised in February to shut its Yongbyon reactor in exchange for energy aid and political concessions. But North Korea has yet to honor the pledge.

The North's delegation, led by Senior Cabinet Councilor Kwon Ho Ung, touched down at Incheon International Airport outside Seoul and did not speak to the assembled reporters.

Kwon shook hands with South Korean officials after deboarding the flight from Pyongyang and was given a clutch of flowers by a woman in traditional Korean dress.

South Korea agreed at economic talks last month to provide 400,000 tons of rice to the communist nation, with the delivery beginning in late May. But Seoul has not begun the shipments in an apparent attempt to delay delivery until after North Korea fulfills its nuclear obligations.

Ahead of the talks Tuesday, Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, the South's main negotiator, downplayed the delay.

"It's not us saying whether we're going to give it or not. It's simply being delayed," Lee was quoted as telling reporters by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Lee attributed the delay to "various reasons related to peace on the Korean peninsula," including the February nuclear agreement. He said he did not believe Kwon will protest, Yonhap said.

Lee's office could not immediately confirm the comments.

Seoul officials have said they told their North Korean counterparts at economic talks last month that delivery could change depending on progress in the nuclear issue.

But on Monday, a pro-North Korea newspaper in Tokyo blasted the South for tying food aid to the nuclear issue.

"It is no different from creating an obstacle" to inter-Korean cooperation, the Chosun Sinbo newspaper said. The paper is run by the association of North Korean residents in Japan and is considered a propaganda tool of the government in Pyongyang.

South Korea hopes to use this week's meetings to seek the North's consent to formally reopen cross-border rail lines.

The two sides conducted a test run of trains on two restored tracks earlier this month, the first time trains have crossed their heavily armed border since rail links were cut early in the 1950-53 Korean War.

One of the two lines, running on the western side of the peninsula, is linked to a South Korean-built industrial park in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, and the other on the peninsula's eastern side is linked to a South Korean-built tourist resort at the North's Diamond Mountain.

Seoul believes regular train service would boost the two exchange projects, prominent symbols of detente since the former enemies held the only summit of their leaders in 2000.

Analysts say North Korea likely will demand economic or political concessions for starting rail service.

Other topics the South plans to raise include ways to reduce military tension on the peninsula, humanitarian issues such as separated families, and ways to promote economic exchanges, a Unification Ministry official said Monday. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the talks' sensitivity.

The Cabinet-level talks are the highest-level regular dialogue channel between the two sides. This week's talks are the 21st round since the 2000 summit. The last round was held in Pyongyang in February-March.

The armistice that ended the Korean War has not been replaced by a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war.