North Korea blames South Korea for failed talks

Seoul, June 13 (IANS/RIA Novosti) North Korea came down on South Korea Thursday after high-level talks between the sides were cancelled.

North Korea said South Korea had deliberately hindered the resumption of the talks, Yonhap news agency reported citing North Korean media.

"This fully proves that the south side had no intent to hold dialogue from the beginning and that it only sought to create an obstacle to the talks, delay and torpedo them after reluctantly taking part in the talks, far from solving issues at the negotiating table," a spokesperson for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) was quoted as saying.

The North and the South were to have held two-day talks starting Wednesday, but the plan was called off after Pyongyang complained that Seoul fielded negotiators of insufficient rank.

Yonhap said Wednesday that North Korea's leadership did not return repeated calls from its counterparts in South Korea made over the last extant communication line between the two countries.

Tensions mounted on the Korean Peninsula earlier this year after North Korea conducted new nuclear and missile tests.

Pyongyang threatened Seoul and the US with war and closed off the joint industrial zone in Kaesong following a new round of international sanctions, but later voiced willingness to negotiate.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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