North Korea harshly criticized South Korea Thursday for the aborted plans to hold high-level talks between the two sides, indicating it would not seek dialogue for the time being.
The North accused the South of deliberately "creating an obstacle" to the resumption of high-level talks by taking issue with the rank of North Korea's top delegate.
"This fully proves that the south side had no intent to hold dialogue from the beginning and that it only sought to create an obstacle to the talks, delay and torpedo them after reluctantly taking part in the talks, far from solving issues at the negotiating table," a spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said in a statement, according to the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang's official news agency.
The two Koreas agreed to hold their first high-level dialogue in six years this week but the North later announced it would not participate. Pyongyang was upset by Seoul's notification that it would be represented by a vice minister in the talks, which were scheduled to take place in Seoul on Wednesday and Thursday. The South said it was seeking to match the status of its top delegate to that of North Korea. But Pyongyang claimed Seoul should have decided to send the unification minister in charge of inter-Korean relations.
"The recent impolite and immoral provocative behavior of the puppet group made us think once again whether it will be possible either to properly discuss matters or improve the inter-Korean relations even if the talks between authorities are opened in the future," the CPRK said. (Yonhap News)
