North Korea cancels Liberation Day events with South over military drills with US

SEOUL (AP) - North Korea has called off joint celebrations with South Korea to mark the anniversary of their liberation from Japanese colonial rule, a South Korean organizer said Sunday.

The North informed South Korea on Saturday that it had decided to cancel the events scheduled on Aug. 15 in South Korea's second largest city of Busan, citing the upcoming South Korea-U.S joint military drills, said Lee Jae-kyu, one of South's organizer.

Last week, the North denounced the Aug. 20-31 drill as an "unacceptable provocation."