North Korea blames South for failure of high-level talks

North Korea blamed South Korea for the collapse of high-level talks today held in the wake of the communist nation’s internationally condemned missile launches, claiming Seoul had raised issues unrelated to the forum.

“While repeating what others say, the South side created an artificial obstacle to the talks, without discerning where military threat to the Korean Peninsula comes from,” the North’s delegation said after the talks ended in Busan, South Korea.

“North-South high-level talks are never military talks or six-party talks,” the delegation said, referring to the six-nation international talks aiming to curb the country’s nuclear aspirations.

At the talks, the South had pressed the North to return to the nuclear talks and end its missile launches. But the North didn’t respond, and had demanded more aid.