News In Brief

South Korea rejects North's meeting plan

The Seoul government sent a letter to North Korea Tuesday rejecting its proposal for a three-way meeting with the United States to discuss the future of the divided Korean Peninsula, officials said.

Officials from both Koreas met for eight minutes during the delivery of the letter. It was the first official contact between the two countries since August of 1980, when they met to discuss the possibility of arranging a meeting between their prime ministers.