North Korea refuses to return to talks, reneging on earlier agreement

SEOUL, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- North Korea turned down South Korean proposals for high-level talks three times since an agreement in late August defused tensions at the border.

An unidentified official at Seoul's Unification Ministry told South Korea press that his bureau made preliminary contact with an offer of talks on Sept. 21, then made similar offers on Sept. 24 and Oct. 30, News 1 reported.

Seoul had hinted that efforts were being made to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table.

National Security Adviser Kim Kwan-jin, who brokered the deal to defuse tensions at the border on Aug. 25, had said in October Seoul was looking into talks with Pyongyang at higher levels, and between Red Cross delegates on both sides. The admission that North Korea has not been cooperating with requests from the Unification Ministry is the first since the landmark agreement.

The ministry said the government had called North Korea via a North-South phone line at Panmunjom on Sept. 21 in order to propose talks at the Peace House to discuss logistics for an Oct. 2 meeting, but on Sept. 23 North Korea's Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland had flatly refused the suggestion, despite an earlier accord.

According to Seoul, North Korea had said the South's proposal rang hollow, citing such "provocations" as helium balloon launches by defector organizations, the discussion of a potential North Korean Human Rights Act in South Korean parliament, and criticism of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

Seoul made the same proposal again on Sept. 24, but North Korea did not respond. Then a month later, South Korea's preliminary contact with the North was rejected – North Korea said that they were following orders from the Pyongyang leadership to not accept the message.

Voice of America reported the Unification Ministry did say that civic exchanges continue to flourish despite the absence of talks.

"Currently private exchanges are growing, and the mood is good after the North-South reunions of separated families," the official said. "North Korea is leaning more toward cooperation on that level than in the past, despite problems with official exchange."