The South Korean government has criticized North Korea for blaming Seoul for the cancellation of high-level inter-Korean governmental talks this week.

In a statement released on Thursday, the Unification Ministry said it is regretful that North Korea aborted the talks while raising issues with the ranking of the South's chief negotiator. The South also criticized the North for unilaterally going public with a distorted version of working-level efforts for the two-day talks that were scheduled to open Wednesday.

Earlier on Thursday, the North's Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said that inter-Korean government-level talks collapsed due to the South’s obstruction and deliberate attempts to ruin the dialogue. The North also denounced the South lowering the level of its chief delegate just ahead of the talks, stressing that Seoul first proposed a ministerial meeting and made multiple pledges to send its unification minister as the chief delegate.

The Unification Ministry argued in response that adjusting the level of the chief negotiator was necessary to forge a new South-North relationship through practical discussions on pending issues at the inter-Korean talks. The ministry also said that properly matching the delegate level is a symbol of respect and the basis of trust building.

The ministry said North Korea is going on about past practices, but Pyongyang should normalize its practices to meet international standards and act with common sense.

The South added that the door for dialogue is still open for the North and it hopes Pyongyang responds in a sincere and responsible manner to government-level discussions.

The North on Tuesday night unilaterally notified the South of its decision to call off the talks to be held on the following day. Shortly after the unexpected cancellation of the talks, the Unification Ministry explained that two sides failed to narrow differences regarding who would represent each side after the North raised an issue with the level of the South's chief delegate to the talks.