Inter-Korean relations are deteriorating with a recent series of setbacks including last week’s land mine incident that injured two South Korean soldiers and Pyongyang’s repeated rejection of Seoul’s overtures for dialogue.

The South Korea-U.S. military exercise, slated for next week, is likely to further strain cross-border relations and dampen reconciliatory mood, which was expected to emerge as the two Koreas mark the 70th anniversary this Saturday of their liberation from Japan’s colonial rule.

Seoul views Pyongyang’s placement of three wooden-boxed land mines in the Demilitarized Zone as a “deliberate provocation” that violated the Armistice Agreement. It also warned that the North would “pay dearly” for the provocation.

But Pyongyang is likely to call it an accident and deny its responsibility, Seoul officials said.

Seoul officials believe that the “land mine provocation” appears to be Pyongyang’s retaliation against a South Korean civic group, which floated balloons carrying 100,000 anti-North Korea leaflets toward the North from Cheolwon, Gangwon Province, on July 31.

The leaflets listed names of North Korean officials “to be executed after reunification,” which included North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, his wife Lee Sol-ju and Hwang Pyong-so, the director of the North Korean military’s General Political Bureau.

In response to the dissemination of the leaflets, the North warned of “merciless physical response” and criticized the Seoul government for not preventing civic activists from conducting what it calls a “grave provocation” against it.

The upcoming Ulchi Freedom Guardian military drills between South Korea and the U.S. are also likely to infuriate the communist regime, which sees the drills as a “rehearsal for a nuclear war of invasion” against it.

As if to highlight its unwillingness to mend fences with the South, Pyongyang has repeatedly rejected Seoul’s calls for government talks.

Last Wednesday, Seoul’s Unification Ministry made an offer of official talks to discuss “issues of mutual concern,” but the North refused. The ministry expressed regret over the North’s rejection.

“We delivered our intention for talks and gave enough time for the North to consider our offer. But the North did not even receive the offer. We express our regret over the fact that the North did not show even a basic level of courtesy to the South by not accepting the request,” said ministry spokesperson Jeong Joon-hee.

“This (the North’s rejection) calls into question the North’s will to deal with inter-Korean issues through dialogue and improve cross-border ties.”

The North also spurned the request by Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, to meet with North Korean leader Kim during her four-day trip to Pyongyang last week.

A spike in inter-Korean tensions came as Pyongyang is expected to engage in provocative acts such as a long-range rocket launch around Oct. 10, the 70th anniversary of the foundation of its Workers’ Party.

The North was spotted completing a construction project to enhance the missile launch pad in the North’s northwestern town of Dongchang-ri. Seoul officials have been closely watching the site though there are not yet any clear signs of an imminent missile launch.

Disregarding Seoul’s concerns over its missile launch, the North said last week that its launch of a “satellite” is a “matter of sovereignty.” During a news conference on the sidelines of ASEAN-related meetings in Malaysia, the North’s delegation also threatened to carry out additional nuclear tests depending on the “U.S.’ attitude.”

The news conference was arranged as Seoul’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se stepped up diplomacy during the ASEAN forums to bring global attention to the problem of North Korea’s possible provocations and its nuclear development.

Spurning Seoul’s calls for dialogue, the North appears to be not in desperate need of outside assistance.

The latest report of the U.S.’ Congressional Research Service on North Korea noted that the reclusive state’s economic conditions appear to be improving. It said that since early 2015, reports have come in about “modest economic growth” in the North.

It also pointed out that the reforms that appear to apply market principles to some sectors of North Korean business and agriculture, have created opportunities for economic growth in the impoverished state.

By Song Sang-ho(sshluck@heraldcorp.com)