S. Korea blocks civic activists' plan to visit N. Korea

SEOUL, June 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea rejected a request by nearly 100 civic activists to visit North Korea this week for a joint ceremony that will mark a landmark inter-Korean summit held more than a decade ago, an official said Monday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il held summit talks with two liberal South Korean presidents, first in 2000 and again 2007.
North Korea and some activists in South Korea called for efforts to keep alive the spirit of the landmark summit in 2000 that paved the way for now-stalled reconciliation and cross-border projects.
Inter-Korean ties have worsened since 2008 when a conservative government took power in Seoul with a hard-line policy toward Pyongyang.
Still, some 100 South Korean activists asked for government permission to visit North Korea's border city of Kaesong for a ceremony on Wednesday.
The Unification Ministry rejected the request, noting Seoul's sanctions on the North are still in place over its two deadly attacks on the South last year that killed 50 South Koreans.
By law, South Koreans are not allowed to travel to North Korea without government approval.
The South Korean activists said they will hold their own ceremony in a South Korean border town.