North Korea Blames South for Failure to Hold Talks

SEOUL — North and South Korea are blaming the other for their failure to hold scheduled talks this week.

North Korean media quoted a spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland as saying the South acted rashly for objecting to the rank of the top delegate Pyongyang intended to dispatch to the high-level talks.

The state radio announcer quotes the spokesman’s statement accusing Seoul of having “had no intent to hold dialogue from the beginning,“ which it says has now been “aborted.”

The North Korean statement says Pyongyang has nothing to expect from such talks. That is seen as a signal from the North that it is unlikely to ask again for talks in the near future.

Cho Young-key, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University in Seoul, is pessimistic there will be any substantial dialogue between North and South in the near future.

Cho terms Pyongyang’s actions as “abnormal, illogical and unsteady.” He questions whether North Korea actually wants to engage in talks.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry says it is highly regrettable that the North unilaterally disclosed the contents of their working level preparatory talks and “distorted the facts.”

Last Thursday, Pyongyang made a surprise request for official talks.

There has been no high-level dialogue between the two Koreas for six years.

Source: VOA