N. Korea: S. Korea proposed inter-Korean summits during secret meeting

(ATTN: UPDATES in paras 1-8 with English-language KCNA statement, details)
SEOUL, June 1 (Yonhap) -- North Korea claimed Wednesday that South Korea proposed a series of summit meetings with the communist nation when the sides met secretly last month, but the talks ended without agreement as Seoul insisted on its demand for an apology for last year's deadly attacks.
Pyongyang's powerful National Defense Commission issued the claim, saying the sides held secret talks in Beijing on May 9 and that the South proposed holding three summit meetings -- first at the border village of Panmunjom in late June, second in Pyongyang in August and third in Seoul in March next year on the sidelines of an international security summit.
The South also proposed that the sides hold Cabinet-level talks in late May to lay the groundwork for summit talks, the North's commission said via the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
The South's alleged proposal of summit meetings appears to be in line with President Lee Myung-bak's offer to invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to next year's Nuclear Security Summit, scheduled for next March, if Pyongyang firmly commits to nuclear disarmament.
The North said the secret meeting ended without agreement because the South repeated its demand that the North apologize for last year's two deadly attacks -- the March sinking of a warship and the November shelling of a border island -- saying the issue is "mountains to be crossed with wisdom" to improve inter-Korean ties.
"The DPRK side clarified its steadfast stand that such summit talks cannot take place as long as the South side insists on the hostile policy towards the DPRK, persistently claiming that the North should 'dismantle its nukes first' and calling for 'an apology for the two cases," the North said.
DPRK refers to the acronym for the North's official name.
If the North's claims are true, the secret meeting took place when South Korean President Lee was on a trip to Europe. During a visit to Berlin, Lee unveiled his willingness to invite the North's leader to next year's security summit.
Officials in Seoul have since said that the South delivered its genuine intentions behind the invitation offer to the North, and expressed hope for further discussions with the North on the matter.
Wednesday's disclosure, if confirmed, would be an embarrassment to the South's government.
Comments from South Korean officials were not immediately available.
Pyongyang has rejected Seoul's long-running demand for an apology for the attacks, claiming it has nothing to do with the sinking of the warship Cheonan and that the shelling of the South's border island of Yeonpyeong was part of its "self-defensive measure" against South Korea-U.S. military drills.
On Wednesday, the North said it rejected the apology demand during the secret meeting as nonsense, saying it won't talk about summit talks conditioned on an apology. The South then "begged" for a concession from the North, saying it would be acceptable even if the North expresses "regret," not an apology, it said.
The South even offered an "envelop of cash" as an inducement, the North said without elaborating.
The North revealed the South Korean participants in the secret meeting, including presidential security secretary Kim Tae-hyo, and that Seoul officials asked that the meeting be kept confidential. The disclosure is way out of diplomatic protocol and suggests that Pyongyang has given up on relations with the South.
The revelations came just days after the North's defense commission said it won't "deal with" the South any longer and threatened to retaliate against Seoul for anti-Pyongyang "psychological warfare," accusing Seoul of seeking confrontation with Pyongyang.
Relations between the two sides have been tense since President Lee took office in early 2008 with a policy to link unconditional aid to progress in international efforts to get North Korea to give up its nuclear programs.
The countries' ties frayed further in the wake of last year's attacks that killed a total of 50 people.
South Korea has put forward a North Korean apology for last year's attacks as a key precondition for resuming the stalled six-party nuclear talks, along with a demand that Pyongyang take concrete steps demonstrating it is serious about giving up nuclear ambitions.
The nuclear talks, involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S., have been stalled since December 2008. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il called for an early resumption of the nuclear talks when he held summit talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao last month.
South and North Korea fought the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the sides still technically at war and their border one of the world's most heavily fortified.
The two sides have so far held summit talks twice, first in 2000 and second in 2007.