SEOUL - South Korea's unification ministry said on Friday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) had given no response to its inter-governmental dialogue offers at least three times.

The ministry said that it had offered to the DPRK holding a preliminary contact for the inter-government dialogue, which had been agreed between Seoul and Pyongyang during top-level military talks in August, on Sept. 21, Sept. 24 and Oct. 30, according to local media reports.

Pyongyang had given no response to the dialogue offers until Friday, the ministry was quoted as saying.

South Korea and the DPRK agreed to hold talks in Seoul or Pyongyang at an earliest possible date after a marathon dialogue on Aug. 25. Tensions soared on the Korean Peninsula in August after a rare exchange of artillery fire and landmine explosions in the demilitarized zone.

The two Koreas put their troops on the highest alert, pushing the peninsula to the brink of armed conflict.

After the Aug. 25 agreement to deescalate tensions, the two Koreas held the reunion of families, separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, in the DPRK's Mount Kumgang resort in October.

Under the name of Unification Minister Hong Yong-Pyo, Seoul sent a dialogue offer to his DPRK counterpart Kim Yang Gon, director of the DPRK's United Front Department, proposing a preliminary contact to be held on Oct. 2 in the truce village of Panmunjom.(Xinhua)