A senior official at the Presidential Preparatory Committee for Unification pressed Pyongyang to quickly respond to Seoul's invitation for cross-border talks.

A key official of the presidential committee told reporters Wednesday that if North Korea continues to delay its response, it will consider the North to be insincere about the issue of separated families.

While expressing hope that the North will soon respond to the dialogue proposal, the official also made the invitation more flexible as he suggested that the North can find other dialogue partners than the presidential committee for the meeting.  He said Seoul is open to the possibility of high-level inter-Korean contact or other proposals by Pyongyang.

Calling it a personal opinion, the official also suggested that South Korean civic groups refrain from sending propaganda leaflets across the border. The official said that there is a general consensus among committee members about the need to overcome other obstacles to inter-Korean dialogue including the leaflet activities. 

The official added that at the present time, it is undesirable to discuss holding an inter-Korean summit.