SEOUL — South and North Korea will not have a meeting at their joint liaison office in the North’s border town of Kaesong this week, Seoul’s unification ministry said today.

The ministry earlier said that it had proposed holding a meeting today between Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung and his North Korean counterpart, Jon Jong-su, who are serving as co-heads of the liaison office.

"There will be no co-heads’ meeting today," Lee Eugene, deputy spokesperson of the ministry, told a regular press briefing.

Chun and Jon effectively held their meeting earlier this week as both joined their delegations to high-level inter-Korean talks at the truce village of Panmunjom, Lee said.

She, however, did not answer a question about whether the North has rejected Seoul’s proposal for talks this week, saying that she does not have the relevant information.

When the two Koreas launched the liaison office last month, they agreed to hold a meeting between their co-heads every week, but due in part to scheduling problems, they have met only twice. They last met late September at the office.

The proposed meeting for this week was intended to discuss follow-up measures to the two Koreas’ high-level meeting on Monday.

They agreed to hold a ground-breaking ceremony for modernising and connecting railways and roads over their border in late November or early December.

They also promised to have Red Cross talks in November and general-level military talks at an early date. — YONHAP