A high-ranking North Korean official says Pyongyang cannot make visiting South Korean officials go to patriotic sites in the North.

Ri Chung-bok, vice chairman of the North's Association for Korea National Reconciliation, recently made the comment to a Seoul magazine when asked of his opinion of a South Korean delegation that did not visit such sites during a visit to Pyongyang in September last year.

In August last year, a North Korean delegation had visited the National Cemetery in Seoul.

Also chief of the North's preparation committee for the June 15 inter-Korean celebrations, Lee said the cemetery visit was to express the North's will to end confrontation, adding he hopes Seoul officials will soon reciprocate.