Update at 0055 KST: After an abrupt cancellation, the South Korean Committee for the Implementation for the June 15 Joint Declaration Thursday night said it had a working-level meeting with the North Korean and overseas branches in Shenyang.

North Korean officials on Thursday withdrew from a series of planned working-level meetings with South Korean civic groups set to be held in China this week, several Seoul-based NGOs who were set to participate in those talks confirmed to NK News.

The groups, the South Korean Committee for the Implementation for the June 15 Joint Declaration, Movement for One Korea, and