AFP, SEOUL: North Korea said Thursday there was no need for further dialogue with South Korea, a day after military talks aimed at easing months of high tensions broke down.
The North's delegation, in a statement on Pyongyang's official news agency, blamed a plot by "a handful of traitors" including the South's defence and unification ministries for the collapse of the talks.
"As it has become clear that the traitors don't want improvement in North-South relations and avoid dialogue, our military and the people don't feel the need any more to continue trying to talk to them," it said.
The two-day talks were the first since the North's shelling of a South Korean island on November 23, which killed four people including two civilians and sharply raised regional tensions.
Seoul also accuses its neighbour of torpedoing a warship in March last year with the loss of 46 lives. The North denies involvement in the ship's sinking.
The North's side walked out of the talks Wednesday after rejecting the South's demands for an apology for both incidents, the South's defence ministry said.
The meeting at the border village of Panmunjom had been intended to set the agenda and date for a high-level military meeting.
"Our military and people love peace more than anyone else, but they never beg for peace," the North's statement said. "It is our tradition to respond to dialogue with dialogue and confrontation with confrontation."
The North says its attack on Yeonpyeong was in response to a South Korean live-fire drill there, which dropped shells into waters claimed by the North.
It says high-level talks should focus not on the incidents but on general ways to avoid provocations by either side.
The South's defence ministry said Wednesday it was still open to high-level military dialogue if the North accepted its proposals.
The US State Department said the North's walkout was a "missed opportunity" to show it is sincere about improving ties. The Pentagon also urged it to resume dialogue with the South.
The breakdown of the talks complicated efforts by the United States and China to revive stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear weapons programmes.
Washington says Pyongyang must improve ties with Seoul before the six-party negotiations -- which offer diplomatic and economic benefits in return for denuclearisation -- can resume.
The North, in a shift of rhetoric, has been repeatedly calling in recent weeks for talks with the South.
Some analysts said the military dialogue could still resume despite Thursday's statement.
"The North lacks sincerity while the South needs flexibility," said Yang Moo-Jin of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.
"Following a cooling-off period, both sides are likely to return to the table as they need to engage in dialogue. This is also wanted by China and the United States."
However Kim Yeon-Chul of Inje University in Gimhae city said the North was unlikely to accept responsibility for the warship incident, especially after a UN Security Council statement failed to identify who was responsible.
"Even if the North comes back to dialogue, no progress is expected as long as the South lumps the sinking and shelling incidents together and demands an apology," Kim told AFP.
"The North is willing to apologise over the shelling but it will never accept responsibility for the sinking."
