South Korea has voiced regrets over North Korea's boycott of a scheduled economic meeting and has called on the North to return to the negotiating table.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Unification Ministry urged Pyongyang to soon convene the planned talks in order to continue developing cross-border relations by discussing major bilateral projects.

A ministry spokesman said the government has a consistent position that previous inter-Korean agreements should be implemented in good faith.

The remarks came as the North's officials failed to show up for economic talks scheduled for Tuesday through Friday in Seoul in an apparent protest over a recent mass defection of Northerners. North Korea also denounced Seoul's refusal to allow some of its citizens to visit Pyongyang on the 10th anniversary of the death of the North's founding leader, Kim Il-sung.

The economic meeting, the 10th since the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, is a key channel for discussing ways to boost bilateral projects, including the Gaesong Industrial Park.

The boycott comes four weeks after the North called off a previous round of high-level cooperation talks, dealing another setback to relations between the two countries.