South Korea's Unification Ministry said North Korean officials did not turn up at the truce village of Panmunjom for their entry into South Korea.

"Talks will not take place because North Korean delegates did not turn up, and there has been no official explanation on their action," a ministry official told AFP.

South Korea has yet to accept North Korea's earlier proposal to change the venue for working-level economic talks, which were to start Monday in the South Korean city of Paju, 20km north of Seoul.

North Korea's chief delegate Choe Yong-Gon demanded in a statement issued Sunday through state-run Radio Pyongyang that the venue be changed to the North Korean city of Kaesong.

Choe said the change was inevitable because of South Korea's political crisis caused by the impeachment of South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun last week.