North Korea on Wednesday spurned South Korea's offer of high-level talks this week, as the two sides remain at loggerheads over the spread of propaganda leaflets via balloons by activists here, Yonhap news agency reported.
Pyongyang's move further raised doubts over the future of already tumultuous inter-Korean ties.
The North's National Defense Commission sent a fax message to the South's presidential office through a military hotline reiterating its protest against the scattering of propaganda leaflets across the border, according to Seoul's unification ministry.