MOSCOW, October 27 (RIA Novosti) — The North Korean leadership’s refusal on Monday to confirm its participation in high-level talks with South Korea is threatening to disrupt the negotiations; North Korea has accused its southern neighbor of exhibiting a “lack of sincerity,” AFP reports.
A message from the North Korean National Defense Agency berated Seoul for allowing activists to launch balloons carrying anti-communist propaganda leaflets across the border between the two countries, adding that both sides should consider “whether high-level contact can be held in such a mood,” according to Yonhap News Agency.
The South Korean National Security Council replied however that the country’s government couldn’t put a stop to the civilian campaign without legal reasons.
The meeting, which is scheduled to take place on October 30, had been previously agreed upon during the surprise visit by a North Korean delegation led by the director of the Korean People’s Army General Political Bureau, Hwang Pyong-so, who said that his trip was meant to serve as an “alley” facilitating better relations between the two countries, Yonhap points out.
The North Korean media says that inter-Korean relations are currently at a “critical juncture,” and the country has urged the South to “change its attitude,” Yonhap adds.
Last Saturday, October 25, hundreds of residents of Paju, a South Korean town located near the border with North Korea, clashed with anti-Pyonyang activists who were planning to launch balloons carrying anti-communist propaganda leaflets across the border. According to AFP, the locals fear reprisals from the North, which considers such actions a declaration of war.
