S. Korean officials not invited to summit anniversary event in N. Korea

Posted on : 2007-06-11 20:54 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST

South Korea has decided not to send a delegation of officials to take part in planned civic joint events in Pyongyang to mark the seventh anniversary of the historic inter-Korean summit, government sources said Monday.

"The government will provide cooperation and support for the civic delegation's participation to help make the events go smoothly," a government source said, asking to remain anonymous.

North Korea has kept mum about South Korea's request for its officials' participation in the events slated for June 14-17, where some 300 South Korean civic leaders and activists are to take part.

"North Korea has yet to respond to our request so far, so it is physically impossible to send a government delegation to the North for this week's events," the source said. "Even if they invite us on Tuesday or Wednesday, it will be impossible to agree to it."

The South Korean government had initially planned to dispatch a delegation led by Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, Seoul's point man on the North, to Pyongyang as part of its efforts to keep up the momentum of renewed inter-Korean relations since the test of trains across the border in mid-May. The Koreas have alternated hosting the joint commemoration of the inter-Korean summit on its anniversary, but this year's event, organized by North Korea, is to exclude South Korean government officials after the inter-Korean ministerial talks ended without tangible results earlier this month.

Last year, the joint celebrations of the summit anniversary were held in the South Korean city of Gwangju, some 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul. A small group of officials from the two sides have participated in the civic event since 2005.

During the latest high-level talks, 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 February agreement over dismantlement of its nuclear arms program. But the denuclearization process has stalled over a delay in the transfer of North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank.

The North failed to meet the April 14 deadline, citing a banking dispute with the U.S. over its frozen funds. In a separate deal, the North Korean money was unblocked, but the dispute over the money continues.

SEOUL, June 11 (Yonhap News)

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