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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - NORTH Korea will boycott a joint May Day celebration with South Korea in protest at the Seoul government's new tougher stance on cross-border relations, organisers said on Thursday.
The two countries have jointly marked May Day as a symbol of rapprochement since the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 ushered in an era of warmer ties.
Last year's event was held for the first time in South Korea. This year's celebration was expected to be held in the North's capital Pyongyang.
North Korea told a South Korean union delegation of its decision when the Seoul unionists visited the communist state's Mount Kumgang resort for talks, said Kim Yeong Je, chief of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.
Mr Kim, quoted by Yonhap news agency, said the North complained of President Lee Myung Bak's ignorance of economic projects agreed at a second cross-border summit last October.
It also cited Mr Lee's 'hostile' remarks as a reason for the boycott, he said.
Relations have worsened since the conservative Mr Lee came to power after a decade of liberal rule. He wants to link major economic aid to progress in the North's denuclearisation and says he will raise its human rights record.
Tensions rose after the North kicked South Korean officials out of a joint industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong on March 27. The next day, it test-fired missiles and accused Seoul of breaching the sea border.
The North has also accused the South of planning a pre-emptive attack and threatened to turn its neighbour into 'ashes' in response.
It has blocked South Korean officials from operating in the country on joint projects and has launched fierce verbal attacks on Mr Lee. -- AFP
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