| Submit your comments on this article |
| China-Japan-Koreas |
| N.Korea Rejects Talks Offer |
| 2013-04-16 |
| North Korea on Sunday dismissed as a "cunning ploy" President Park Geun-hye's offer of talks to ease tensions. A spokesman for the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland was quoted by the official KCNA news agency as saying Sunday the offer of dialogue is "a cunning ploy to hide the South's policy of confrontation and cover up its responsibility for putting the Kaesong Industrial Complex into a crisis." The spokesman added the offer is an "empty shell" and dialogue "would be meaningless." He added it is entirely up to South KoreaÂ’s attitude whether or not talks take place. A Unification Ministry official played down the snub as a "preliminary response" and added Seoul intends to "monitor the situation further." But in a late night briefing, Joo Choel-ki, senior presidential secretary for foreign and security affairs, told reporters that the government "sincerely regrets" North Korea's response. He added that South Korean businesses in the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex are experiencing "indescribable hardships" due to North Korea's blockade of the industrial park. |
| Posted by:Steve White |