by Yoo Seungki
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- High-level talks, which the two Koreas agreed upon earlier this month, "actually" failed to be held as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) set the halt of anti-DPRK leaflets distribution as a precondition for the dialogue.
South Korea has stuck to its position that it cannot control the anti-DPRK activity by civic groups, citing no legal ground for the government intervention.
Early Wednesday, the DPRK's National Defense Commission sent a notice via a military hotline to South Korea's presidential national security office, saying the South Korean authorities connived at the scattering of anti-DPRK leaflets by civic groups, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.
The DPRK's top military body said it depends on South Korea's responsible choice whether to hold on to the anti-DPRK leaflets distribution or to hold the senior-level talks. It noted that South Korea was going in the direction of thwarting the agreed inter-Korean dialogue.
On Oct. 4, the DPRK agreed to the second round of high-level inter-Korean talks during a surprise visit of three senior DPRK officials to South Korea for the closing ceremony of the Incheon Asian Games. Pyongyang said Seoul can pick a date for the talks between late October and early November.
South Korea proposed to hold the senior-level dialogue on Oct. 30, but the DPRK kept mum about it as South Korean civic groups floated anti-DPRK leaflets across the border despite Pyongyang's strong opposition.
Seoul asked Pyongyang on Tuesday night to give a clear response toward the proposed date of talks.
The DPRK has denounced South Korea's connivance at the anti- DPRK leaflets, depicting it as a "declaration of war." On Oct. 10, the DPRK military fired machine gun shots at balloons containing such leaflets scattered by a South Korean group. South Korean soldiers shot back after some of the bullets flew across the border.
A group of South Korean conservative activists failed to fly balloons with anti-DPRK leaflets in Imjingak near the western border on Saturday, after progressive civic groups and local residents blocked it, citing security concerns.
The activists flied a large balloon containing leaflets, which criticize the DPRK regime and top leader Kim Jong Un, on Saturday night from the nearby Gimpo area.
In response to the notice, Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol told a press briefing Wednesday that the government has no legal ground to intervene in civic groups' dispersion of the leaflets, noting that Seoul has repeatedly expressed its position on the issue.
Lim said it is doubtful whether the DPRK has a willingness to improve inter-Korean relations as it took an issue the South Korean government cannot control.
The spokesman expressed regrets over the "actual failure" to hold the high-level talks on Oct. 30, adding that the government cannot accept the DPRK's demand despite Seoul's unwavering position that inter-Korean issues should be resolved through dialogue.
