Around two dozen journalists from the U.S., Britain, China and Russia arrived in North Korea on Tuesday ahead of North Korea's planned dismantlement of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
However,... after their visa applications weren't processed by the North,... it's looking more and more likely South Korean journalists won't be there to witness it with their foreign counterparts.
That said,... Seoul is not giving up hope that they will be able to go.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
With North Korea inviting a number of journalists from the United States, UK, China and Russia to witness the regime's highly-publicized dismantling of its Punggye-ri nuclear test site,... not much information has been made available.
All any one knows for sure is that the event will take place between Wednesday and Friday.
It's thought the three-day window is to ensure the dismantling can happen on a clear day.
China's state-run CCTV News which is among the broadcasters invited to the North said a trip to the test site on Tuesday was delayed due to bad weather.
But the big question remains: What about the South Korean journalists who were invited and then disinvited by the North?
Pyongyang on Tuesday again declined to accept the list of South Korean journalists chosen to cover the dismantling of its nuclear test site,... in a signal their chances of attending are looking increasingly bleak.
However, the South's Unification Ministry will continue to try again on Wednesday,... given that they still have some time before the event begins.
According to a release by the ministry,... if the North accepts the South Korean journalists,... the reporters may fly to the site via a direct route between the two Koreas that was used before and during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Days before the Winter Games opened on February 9th,... members of the South Korean national skiing team traveled to a North Korean ski resort on a chartered flight to Kalma Airport in Wonsan.
The apparent freezing out of the South Korean journalists is a sharp departure from the conciliatory mood between the two Koreas since the inter-Korean summit on April 27th.
Angry over Seoul's military drills with the U.S. and a high-profile defector's recent criticisms of the regime,... the North has stated it will cut off all high-level talks with South Korea.
Despite the rapid shift in tone in Pyongyang,... Seoul remains hopeful the South Korean journalists will get to travel to the test site to watch the dismantlement with their international counterparts.
Even if they are not,... South Korea's unification minister has said Seoul is just happy to see that North Korea is taking another step closer to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.