Seoul has expressed deep regret over North Korea’s demand for the dissolution of the South's unification preparatory committee.
 
In a statement issued by a Unification Ministry spokesman on Sunday, the government said the North has distorted facts and is making groundless accusations.

The statement came a day after the North’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland raised issue with remarks made by Chung Chong-wook, the vice chairman of the Presidential Committee for Unification Preparation. 
 
Chung has denied a local media report earlier this week that quoted him as saying last month that the committee has a team that specializes in studying non-consensual unification. 
 
North Korea said Chung’s remarks exposed the South Korean government’s impure intentions. The North demanded an apology from President Park Geun-hye and the dissolution of the unification preparatory committee.
 
The Unification Ministry said it regrets that the North is continuously making groundless claims and issuing disrespectful words against the South Korean president. The ministry then urged the North to approach the situation cool-headedly and promptly respond to Seoul’s efforts at pursuing peaceful unification.
 
The ministry blasted the North for demanding the dissolution of the unification committee, citing that the Park Geun-hye government set as a key policy the establishment of a basis for peaceful unification and has proposed various projects to prepare for unification.