N.Korea blames South for talks failure

PYONGYANG (Itar-Tass) - North Korea blamed Seoul for the
failure of preliminary military talks held last week in Panmunjom on the
border between the two countries.
The government-run Minju Choson newspaper said on Friday South Korea
"bears full responsibility" for the failure to launch the inter-Korean
dialogue.
It said "an incessant series of military maneuvers was the response of
militant South Korean puppets to sincere proposals from Pyongyang on the
beginning of a peaceful dialogue and negotiations."
The daily accused Seoul of "erecting artificial barriers on the path
of the settlement of the tense situation on the peninsula and
normalization of relations between the North and the South."
It rejected South Korean claims that talks failed because of North
Korean position.
In January North Korea proposed to Seoul to set a taskforce of
military representatives and hold negotiations between defense ministers
to "resolve the problems that accumulated in the military sphere."
Preliminary talks were held to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula
however they failed because of major contradictions.