South Korea is urging North Korea to retract its request for Seoul to send a smaller delegation to a joint June 15th ceremony in Pyongyang.

In a letter to its northern counterpart Thursday, the South Korean preparatory committee for the inter-Korean celebration urged the North to honor the agreement the two Koreas reached last week on the Seoul delegation to the ceremony.

In an earlier meeting with lawmakers, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young echoed similar remarks in opposing the North's request, but said Seoul will study various factors before issuing a final position later this week.

On Wednesday, North Korea demanded that Seoul send 30 delegates instead of the original 70 to the joint celebrations, citing "new hindrances" in an apparent reference to US deployment of stealth fighters to South Korea.