2011-02-10 11:10

North Korea's military said Thursday its side will no longer talk to South Korea as long as Seoul remains reluctant to lower tension, a day after their first defense talks in nearly half a year collapsed despite high anticipation.

In a bulletin carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency, the North's delegation to the two-day colonel-level talks said its South Korean counterpart "unilaterally withdrew" after refusing to compromise on ways to set up higher-level defense talks.

"Our military and people no longer feel the need to meet (with the South) under the condition where the traitor's group is entirely refusing to talk while being reluctant to improve inter-Korean relations," the North Korean delegation said in the bulletin.

Following the talks at the border village of Panmunjom, South Korea said the North hindered progress by refusing to admit its responsibility for deadly provocations last year.

Tension remains high on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea bombarded a South Korean island in November and a South Korean warship sank in March in an attack blamed on Pyongyang.

The North has consistently denied involvement in the sinking and claimed that its artillery attack on Yeonpyeong was legitimate because the South provoked it first by holding a live-fire drill near the island with some shells falling on the North's side.

South Korea has maintained for months that the North must first account for its provocations and reaffirm its denuclearization pledge before Seoul can consider restoring exchanges with Pyongyang.

The military delegations ended their negotiations on Wednesday without agreeing on another round. The North said Thursday that the talks came to a halt seven times in total and "broke down after only wasting time," calling the South Korean negotiators "scoundrels."