North Korea has not accepted South Korea's proposed list of journalists chosen to cover a ceremony for the dismantlement of a nuclear test site planned for this week, the unification ministry said Monday.

The ministry has tried to convey the list of the reporters selected to cover the shutdown of the Punggye-ri nuclear site through the communication channel at the truce village of Panmunjom, but the North has not responded on the matter, according to ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun.

North Korea announced on May 12 that it will publicly dismantle the test site located in the country's northern region in a ceremony to which media people from South Korea, China, Russia, the United States and Britain will be invited to cover.

North Korea charges $10,000 per reporter to cover Punggye-ri nuclear site blowup 2018-05-21 14:28  |  North Korea 4 South Korean reporters heading to Punggye-ri nuke site 2018-05-21 11:25  |  North Korea US senator: Trump wants to end North Korea crisis by 2021 2018-05-21 10:47  |  North Korea Days later, the North invited four South Korean reporters each from a newswire and a broadcasting company for the event to be held from Wednesday to Friday to dismantle the Punggye-ri site, located in the northeastern region of the North, where the North carried out all six of its nuclear denotation tests.

This comes as the North has ramped up its criticism of South Korea after abruptly canceling high-level talks with the South slated for Wednesday to discuss follow-up measures to the April 27 inter-Korean summit, taking issue with ongoing joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States. (Yonhap)