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North Korea effectively halted all scheduled events at a joint celebration marking the seventh anniversary of the historic inter-Korean summit by preventing a South Korean lawmaker from sitting in the VIP area at a "unity event," pool reports said Friday.

The celebration in Pyongyang stopped when organizers told Rep. Park Kye-dong that he would not be seated with other dignitaries.

The two-term lawmaker from the conservative Grand National Party (GNP) is part of the 284-member South Korean delegation that arrived in the North Korean capital on Thursday.

The incident occurred in the morning at the People's Palace of Culture, when North Korean officials blocked Park's entry.

"The North gave no reason why the GNP lawmaker could not sit in the VIP area," said a spokesman for the South Korean delegation.

He added that organizers did not listen, even though the South Korean side told them that seating arrangements were agreed upon in advance.

In recent months, Pyongyang has consistently blasted the conservative party and warned that if its candidate wins the upcoming presidential election in December, hostilities between the two Koreas could flare up.

South Korea's chief delegate, Paik Nak-chung, made clear that excluding the GNP lawmaker from the proceedings could not be allowed. He held talks with his North Korean counterpart to resolve the issue, but made no headway.

"We stressed that no South Korean delegate will take part in any event that blocks the admission of the GNP lawmaker," the professor emeritus from Seoul National University said.

The delegation that arrived on a direct chartered flight over the West Sea includes religious leaders and civic group members, artists, athletes and politicians.

Failure to reach an understanding on the impasse resulted in all events planned for the afternoon being called off, the media pool said.

Representatives from the two sides were engaged in talks throughout the afternoon, but made no progress other than to agree to continue discussing the matter.

This is the second time since this year's celebrations began that the two sides collided over steps taken by South Korean participants.

North Korea on Thursday protested the content of a speech given by South Korea's former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun at the welcoming dinner.

Jeong proposed that the two Koreas should "hold a second inter-Korean summit" in his toast. The North denounced this action as a breach of protocol and deleted the controversial part of the speech from the broadcasting tape via satellite.

It was not immediately clear why the North reacted so sensitively to the remarks regarding a second inter-Korean summit, since speculation is rife that Pyongyang might consider agreeing to hold a second summit at the request of Seoul ahead of the presidential election in the South in late 2007.

But North Korea watchers said the speech might have angered North Korean organizers, as the issue is not a matter to be discussed during the event, but should be dealt with at a higher formal level, and requires the decision of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

"North Korean participants might have thought that Kim Jong-il is the only one who can decide," said Kim Sung-bae, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy.

The two Koreas held their first-ever summit in June 2000, opening the gates to rapprochement and reconciliation. But North and South Korea are still technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

On the first day of the celebration, South Korean participants, along with 3,000 North Korean citizens, attended an opening ceremony at the South Gate of Mount Taesong in Pyongyang. They then took a tour of the North's capital and watched an artistic performance.

The two Koreas have alternated hosting the joint anniversary celebration, but this year's event, organized by North Korea, excluded South Korean government officials after the latest inter-Korean ministerial talks ended without tangible results earlier this month. Some perceive the action as an indirect way for the North to express anger at the South's withholding of rice aid until the North takes steps toward nuclear dismantlement.

Last year, the joint celebration was held in the South Korean city of Gwangju, about 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul. Small groups of officials from the two sides have participated in the event since 2005.

During high-level talks this month, North Korea lodged a strong protest over the South's withholding of promised rice aid until the North shuts down its main nuclear reactor under a February nuclear deal.

South Korea made the rice aid contingent on the North's implementation of the agreement that calls for the dismantlement of the North's nuclear arms program. But the denuclearization process stalled over a delay in the transfer of North Korean funds that had been frozen in a Macau bank. The North failed to meet an April 14 deadline under the agreement to start nuclear dismantlement because of that dispute.
SEOUL, June 15 (Yonhap News)