North Korea warned Thursday of "disastrous" consequences for inter-Korean ties as it blamed the South for the collapse of high-level talks amid a stalemate over recent missile tests.
"We will bring the South to account thoroughly for causing the talks to collapse," the North Korean delegation said in a statement after meetings in the South Korean city of Busan ended early in failure.
"The South will have to pay before the Korean people for leading the high-level talks to a collapse and causing unpredictable and disastrous consequences to inter-Korean ties," it said.
Tensions have risen markedly in the region since North Korea tested seven missiles in rapid succession on July 5, triggering global condemnation and leading to talk of possible sanctions at the United Nations.
The North Korean statement accused the South of betraying its northern "brother" and siding with its Western allies in the confrontation over Pyongyang's missile launches and its nuclear weapons program.
But a high-ranking government official downplayed the North's statement. "Inter-Korean dialogue does not break down so easily. It won't be severed just because of one statement," he told journalists on condition of anonymity.
The collapse a day early of the talks, which began Tuesday and were supposed to run until Friday, marked the first time since a historic bilateral summit in 2000 that inter-Korean talks have failed to go the distance.
South Korea has been trying to press the North into giving an assurance that it will stop firing off any more missiles and return to six-party talks on its nuclear weapons programme.