North Korea on Wednesday rejected a South Korean civic group’s proposal for a joint event to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule in August.
 
A Unification Ministry official said on Thursday that there is a need to figure out whether the North is rejecting these proposals according to strategic decisions or it is rejecting them simply because they were pushed back in priority order. 
 
The official downplayed a recent statement by the North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, which asked the U.S. to choose between a shift in its hostile policy toward North Korea and its own demise. The official said that the statement does not seem to show any differences from the North’s existing position.