S. Korea says it remains open to dialogue with N. Korea despite bickering

SEOUL, June 2 (Yonhap) -- Despite North Korea's vow to sever contact with South Korea, Seoul said Thursday it remains open to cross-border dialogue while upbraiding Pyongyang for making their secret contact public.
On Wednesday, North Korea released a string of accusations that South Korea implored the communist country to agree to a summit through secret contact. The South, which acknowledged having such a meeting, denies it sought a summit and says it was trying to convince Pyongyang to stop its provocative behavior.
Expressing regret over the North's action, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae said in a briefing on Thursday that Pyongyang's refusal to hold any further talks with the South "runs counter to the wishes of the international society and does not contribute to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula."
But Cho said the "doors" to inter-Korean dialogue remain open, calling on the North to show a "responsible and sincere attitude" toward the cause of denuclearization.
The North's vow to ignore the South dampened expectations in Seoul that Pyongyang would soon propose inter-Korean dialogue on its nuclear arms programs, a meeting proposed by China that provides aid and political support to the North.
The relations between the Koreas remain at the worst point in years after the South linked its aid to denuclearization efforts by the North. Pyongyang claims its nuclear arms development is aimed at deterring a U.S. invasion and should be dealt with directly with Washington.
The South also holds the North responsible for the sinking of one of its warships in March last year in the Yellow Sea. In November, the North bombarded a South Korean border island, killing four people.