North Korea abruptly called off a joint cultural event scheduled to be held in its country to celebrate the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in South Korea, Seoul officials said Monday.
In a telegram, the North said it was canceling the event slated to be held at Mount Kumgang on Feb. 4, Seoul’s unification ministry said.
The communist state was known to have cited what it claimed to be “biased” media reports about the upcoming event.
The unification ministry said the North also took issue with South Korean reports about its “internal event,” apparently referring to reports about a possible military parade marking the 70th anniversary of its military on Feb. 8, one day before the start of the Winter Olympic Games.
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| Hyon Song-wol, chief of the North’s Moranbong Band (Herald file photo) |
The event at Mount Kumgang was to be part of a series of events to be held in the divided Koreas ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
North Korea has also agreed to stage art performances and taekwondo demonstrations in South Korea to commemorate its participation in the Winter Olympics.
Many local news outlets here, however, have voiced concerns over the joint events in that they may be in violation of UN Security Council sanctions currently in place against the communist North for its military provocations, including six nuclear tests.
The Seoul government said it was regrettable to see North Korea unilaterally call off a joint event that it had agreed to host.
(Yonhap)
