S. Korea expresses regret over N. Korea's claim on summit talks

(ATTN: UPDATES with more comments by South Korea; RESTORES previous material; TRIMS) SEOUL, June 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea expressed deep regret Wednesday after North Korea alleged that Seoul requested a series of summit talks with Pyongyang, calling the North's allegations a "unilateral claim" not worthy of a response. Seoul's move came hours after the North's powerful National Defense Commission revealed that the sides held secret talks last month when Seoul 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 commission headed by leader Kim Jong-il said that Seoul also proposed holding Cabinet-level talks in late May to lay the groundwork for summit talks. The secret meeting ended without agreement because the South repeated its demand that the North apologize for its two deadly attacks on the South last year, the North's commission said. "The (North) 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 (North)," the commission said in a comment carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency. The North denies its involvement in the sinking of a South Korean war ship and said its shelling of a frontline South Korean island was part of its "self-defensive measure" against South Korea's military drills. The North's commission also claimed the South "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 disclosure came just days after Kim called for the easing of tensions on the Korean Peninsula and a quick resumption of the nuclear talks during his recent talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing, and it suggests that Pyongyang has given up on relations with the South. Seoul has made Pyongyang's apology for the two attacks that killed 50 South Koreans a key condition for improving inter-Korean relations and resuming the international talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs. The Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, dismissed the alleged cash offer as "absurd," and denied that Seoul implored and begged the North for an apology over the two deadly attacks. South Korea "did not formally make the detailed proposals" a Unification Ministry official said, referring to the alleged three summit meetings. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said during a trip to Berlin last month that he was willing to invite the North's leader to next year's security summit in Seoul if Pyongyang firmly commits to nuclear disarmament. 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 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.