The plenary session of the inter-Korean economic cooperation talks under way in Pyongyang has failed to take place after North Korea abruptly demanded to exchange keynote speech texts ahead of the meeting.

The session had been scheduled for ten a.m. Thursday.

A Seoul official said that the South cannot accept the request as it is unreasonable to exchange such texts before the plenary session.

The South Korean delegation had reportedly planned to urge the North to fulfill its promise to shut down its nuclear facilities in line with the February 13th six-way nuclear agreement.

South Korea was also expected to propose that test runs of reconnected cross-border railways be conducted next month.

In addition, it was to propose the overland transportation of economic cooperation goods in light of the high cost of transportation via maritime routes.

The 13th round of inter-Korean economic cooperation talks reopened Wednesday after a ten-month hiatus.