SEOUL, May 24 (UPI) -- North Korea Wednesday called off test runs of railways across its border with South Korea, citing military tension, officials said.
The North's move comes just one day before the two Koreas were scheduled to test the railways across the heavily fortified border.
The South Korean government expressed deep regret at the North's abrupt cancellation of the tests, dubbed a "symbolic event" to further promote inter-Korean reconciliation.
In a telegram, the North said it would not conduct the scheduled railway tests because of "the lack of a military agreement to guarantee the safety in the trial runs," Seoul's Vice Unification Minister Shin Un-sang told a press briefing.
"We believe it is deeply regrettable that North Korea has unilaterally postponed an event that had been agreed to several times," Shin said.
The two sides agreed on May 13 to test-run the rail lines running up both sides of the peninsula.
Under the 2000 summit agreement, work was completed on laying track to reconnect the two lines that were severed more than five decades ago during the 1950-53 Korean War.
But the North Korean military has remained reluctant to agree on a security guarantee for the railways, apparently over concern about possible leaks of military information.
