South Korea expressed regret Monday that North Korea has refused to accept Seoul's offer for inter-Korean talks, which was made to coincide with a rare visit to the North by the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung.
  

South Korea attempted to send a letter to North Korea proposing the high-level talks on Wednesday, the same day Lee Hee-ho embarked on her four-day trip to North Korea, according to the Unification Ministry. But Pyongyang has not received it, saying there is no order to do so from the leadership.
  

The ministry said Seoul sought to propose the talks with Pyongyang on the reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War and other issues of "mutual concern," in an effort to improve the strained bilateral ties in a landmark year.
  

"It is regrettable that the North does not have the basic courtesies as it has not even accepted the South's letter," Jeong Joon-hee, ministry spokesman, said in a regular press briefing. "The North's move raises doubts about whether it has the willingness and sincerity toward improving inter-Korean ties."
  

Lee, a symbolic figure of inter-Korean reconciliation, returned home Saturday after failing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who had invited her to his country.
  

Experts said the absence of a meeting points to the long-frayed inter-Korean relations and doubts about North Korea's resolve to improve Seoul-Pyongyang ties.
  

The South did not ask the 93-year-old to deliver a message to the North on the behalf of the Seoul government, stressing that her trip was made in a private capacity.
  

The timing of Seoul's move has spawn speculation that the North's leader might have shunned a meeting with the former first lady in a show of the North's anger with the South.
  

The government claimed that it sought to propose the dialogue with the North ahead of Liberation Day which falls on Aug. 15. This year marks the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule and the division of the two Koreas.
  

The ministry said that there is no change of its stance for supporting the need to mend the frayed inter-Korean relations and seeking for dialogue and cooperation for an eventual unification.
  

"We call on North Korea to accept our offer for talks as soon as possible and to move toward the improvement of the ties," he added. (Yonhap)