N. Korea rejects proposal for Red Cross reunion talks with South

PYONGYANG, North Korea, March 6 (UPI) -- North Korea Thursday rejected the South's proposal to hold Red Cross talks on regular reunions of families separated by the Korean War.

The Red Cross in North Korea sent a letter to its counterparts in the South stating an appropriate atmosphere has not been created for such discussions to take place, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

The North did not elaborate on what it meant by atmosphere.

The South Korean inter-Korean affairs ministry expressed disappointment.

In February, the Koreas held a series of temporary family reunions for those separated during the 1950-53 Korean War for the first time in three years. However, since then, the North has fired short-range missiles and rockets off its eastern coast in response to joint South Korean-U.S. military drills, which Pyongyang alleged were practice for an invasion.