South Korea has rejected North Korea's proposal to jointly hold an inter-Korean event marking the 13th anniversary of the signing of the inter-Korean June 15th declaration.

Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-seok said in a statement Monday that Seoul is dubious of the intention behind the proposal by North Korea, which refused to hold working-level talks with the South.

The spokesman said the North should not be obsessed with the idea of having the event carried out jointly with the South in the North but instead come forward and sit down for working-level discussions.

Kim said that the North must stop contacting civilian businesses and organizations if it really wants to thaw strained inter-Korean relations, stressing that it is necessary to rebuild trust between the governments of the two Koreas.

He further specified that the two Koreas must revive severed military communication hotlines and resolve issues related to the return of South Korean companies' finished products and materials left behind at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea.

The North Korean Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration proposed to its South Korean counterpart holding an inter-Korean event marking the anniversary of adopting the landmark inter-Korean declaration.

The two Koreas held the event marking the signing of the June 15th Joint Declaration every year at Mount Geumgang from the year after the 2000 South-North summit until the first year of the Lee Myung-bak administration in 2008.

The event was suspended after South-North ties soured when a South Korean tourist was shot and killed by a North Korean soldier at Mount Geumgang in July 2008.