South Korea regrets North no-show at ministerial talks

South Korea voiced regret on Tuesday at the communist North's failure to show up for ministerial talks in Seoul, urging Pyongyang to reschedule the meetings to keep key economic projects on track.
North Korea never replied to the South's requests last month to discuss the agenda for what would have been the 15th round of inter-Korean ministerial meetings. The cabinet-level talks were slated to run for four days from Tuesday. Pyongyang has berated the South twice in the past month.
Firstly, it complained about Seoul's refusal to allow South Koreans to travel to the North for the 10th anniversary of the death of state founder Kim Il-sung. It then denounced the arrival of some 460 North Korean refugees in the South.
"It is regrettable that the 15th South-North ministerial talks were not able to convene as scheduled today," said the South Korean Unification Ministry, the main window for dealings with the North. The Koreas have no diplomatic ties.
"For South-North reconciliation projects to proceed smoothly without interruption, it is critical that North-South talks be held as agreed," the ministry said in a statement.
"Reconciliation projects" are South Korean government-backed industrial and tourism schemes designed to revive the North's struggling economy. Seoul is building an industrial park for light manufacturing in the city of Kaesong, just north of the Demilitarised Zone between the two states, and supports a tourist resort at Mt Kumgang in the North.
The 14 rounds of North-South ministerial meetings since 2000 have skirted political and military matters to focus on economic aid for the North.
But Seoul had hoped to use improving ties with Pyongyang to encourage it to be more forthcoming at six-party talks aimed at trying to end a long-running crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes.
The two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia are expected to hold working-group talks in August and higher-level talks in September.
North Korea has occasionally snubbed the South to signal displeasure at Seoul or, analysts say, to try to sow divisions between South Korea and its ally, the United States.