A regular meeting among the heads of the inter-Korean liaison office has not been held since the breakdown of the second summit between North Korea and the U.S.
Unification Ministry Deputy Spokeswoman Lee Yoo-jin said in a briefing earlier on Friday that the weekly meeting at the office in the North's border city Gaeseong would not be held for the third consecutive week.
The ministry said the office’s South Korean head, Vice Minister Chun Hae-sung, crossed the border for the weekly meeting, even though Pyongyang had informed the South that the North’s office head Jon Jong-su would not attend this week’s meeting.
An official from Seoul said the two acting North Korean chiefs, Hwang Chung-song and Kim Kwang-song, have also been absent from the office since Monday because of what the North cited as “internal affairs.”
The two sides launched the joint liaison office in mid-September and had agreed to hold meetings every week. The previous meetings were held on February 22nd, five days before the second U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi.