North Korea rebuffs list of South Korean journalists

May 18 (UPI) -- North Korea is not responding to a South Korean request to accept a list of South Korean journalists who are scheduled to attend the dismantlement of the Punggye-ri nuclear site.

In the latest sign of Pyongyang's withdrawal from friendlier overtures, North Korea "did not accept" a request from Seoul for communication, local news service No Cut News reported.

"The government today, to follow up on the North's invitation for the planned dismantlement of the Punggye-ri nuclear site on May 23-25, attempted to announce a list of our reporters to the North through Panmunjom, but the North did not accept the communication," Seoul's unification ministry said.

North Korea's lack of responsiveness follows a unilateral decision to cancel high-level inter-Korea talks that was supposed to take place Wednesday.

Pyongyang has not canceled the dismantlement, planned for next week, and previously invited journalists from South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Britain.

South Korean news service News 1 reported Friday the news service had been invited to observe the site shutdown with reporters from South Korean television network MBC.

While uncertainties remain, South Korean analyst Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies told No Cut News it is "very unlikely" Kim Jong Un will cancel the nuclear site event.

That is because Kim's dismantlement was a "pledge with the international community."

Kim and President Donald Trump are scheduled to meet on June 12 in Singapore.