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South Korea calls off high- level talks with North

Iran Press TV

Tue Jun 11, 2013 12:56PM GMT

South Korea says high-level talks with the North have been called off after the two sides remained unable to agree on the composition of their delegations.

This comes after the two sides disputed over who should lead the respective delegations.

The South's Unification Ministry has not given any reason for the failure to hold the talks, and it's not clear whether they have been postponed or cancelled.

'There will be no talks tomorrow,' a spokeswoman for the South's Unification Ministry said on Tuesday.

The agreement for the two-day talks, scheduled to begin in Seoul on Wednesday, came after almost 18 hours of talks between the government delegates from the two sides in the village of Panmunjom - the 'truce village' on the border.

The scheduled talks were an opportunity to improve relations after months of tensions that included threats from Pyongyang and warnings from Seoul.

The resumption of two suspended commercial projects, including the Kaesong joint industrial complex, was high on the agenda. The North shut the complex down in April as the crisis reached its peak.

Pyongyang says warmongering efforts by Washington and Seoul prompted it to make the decision.

Kaesong is located on the North Korean side of the fortified border and houses the operations of over 120 South Korean companies, employing both South and North Korean workers.

The Korean Peninsula has been locked in a cycle of military rhetoric over the past few months.

The rhetoric escalated when the United States and South Korea held joint military exercises in April, with the participation of US nuclear-capable B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers. North Korea censured the drills and warned Washington and Seoul against a "preemptive attack," which could develop into an "all-out war."

On June 1, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Seoul and Washington would maintain a strong alliance in the face of what they described as potential threats from North Korea.

MM/JR/ PR