NK Unilaterally Postpones Inter-Korean Talks

North Korea has unilaterally put on hold the scheduled meetings between North and South Korean officials supposed to take place in Pyongyang on March 26. The Kim Jung Il regime alleges that the South Korean government has beefed up its military alertness upon launch of the Iraq war.

In a statement issued yesterday, Park Chang-ryun, who is in charge of all South-North economic projects in North Korea, alleged that "under the pretext of the Iraq war, South Korea has raised its alert level to Defense Readiness Condition II. It`s an unnecessary act betraying trust between two sides. The increased alert level will end up posing more artificial barriers to furthering mutual dialog and exchange."

Then, he continued, "Thus, we cannot help postponing the scheduled two meetings. But the South should take all the responsibilities," reported state-run Korean Central News Agency and Pyongyang News Agency.

In the meanwhile, The Rodong Sinmun, a newspaper in North Korea representing the position of the isolated regime, alleged in its editorial, "Should the South Korean government wish to pursue peace and safety for all Koreans, it should give up resorting to a foreign power, pursuant to the 6/15 mutual agreement. Instead, it should pursue cooperation between Koreans. The South Korean government must immediately stop war preparations it is conducting with the United States. It also has to restore its military to the previous readiness condition. We are greatly bothered by the action."

On Friday, the Ministry of Unification, on behalf of the South Korean government, made it clear that the level was not raised. Nonetheless, the North postponed the meetings. Thus, Kim Kwong-rim, a South Korean government official in charge of economic projects, sent a message to the regime and expressed his regret over the incident. Then, he reportedly demanded that the delayed meetings should be held immediately.

Dong-Ki Sung esprit@donga.com