Seoul bars civic group from meeting N. Koreans in China

SEOUL, July 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has barred a non-governmental organization from going ahead with a planned meeting with its North Korean counterpart in China, citing frozen political relations, officials and activists said Thursday.

The North Korean Committee for the June 15 Joint Declaration, established after
the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 in honor of the resulting summit accords,
invited its South Korean counterpart earlier this month to a meeting on July 31
in Shenyang to discuss academic and media exchanges. The proposal was a rare
gesture, coming as other cross-border exchanges hang in a limbo.
The non-governmental South Korean Committee for the June 15 Joint Declaration
reported its planned inter-Korean meeting to the Unification Ministry as required
by law, but the request was denied, committee officials said.
The ministry "rejected the request, considering the current inter-Korean
relations and on legal grounds that it can do so in cases that may damage
national security and public order or go against the interest of the public,"
spokesman Chun Hae-sung said.
Seoul issued restrictions on civic and humanitarian aid organizations visiting or
communicating with North Korea after Pyongyang's long-range rocket test in April,
a policy that toughened after the country's nuclear test in May.
The first summit between then President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il paved the way for a flurry of diplomatic, economic and cultural exchanges
between the two countries, which technically remain at war. The second summit was
held in 2007.