The request, sent through a border hotline, came with allegations that the United States was hindering inter-Korean cooperation by stepping up criticism of the North's political system.

At inter-Korean talks last month, North Korea agreed to accept a South Korean delegation for the joint event in Pyongyang from June 14-17.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young, responsible for Seoul's relations with Pyongyang, plans to head the delegation, which will be accompanied by 50 advisers, support personnel and journalists.

"North Korea demanded South Korea slash the number of its delegates from 70 to 30," a ministry official said, adding Pyongyang also asked South Korea to scale down its 615-member civilian delegation.

The two Koreas have been technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict, but the summit on June 15, 2000, spurred inter-Korean reconciliation.

North Korea has accused the United States of planning a war against the Stalinist country.

On Wednesday, North Korea's ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun urged South Korea to scrap its alliance with the United States, calling it "the root cause of all evils."

"The hot wind of anti-US actions raged in the wake of the June 15 event in South Korea," it said.

"It is only the US that is displeased with this and it is working hard to hold this development in check by means of threat and blackmail."

The United States and North Korea remain locked in a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

The North has boycotted nuclear disarmament talks -- which also include the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia -- since June last year.

On Tuesday, US President George W. Bush stressed his commitment to diplomacy and to the six-party talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.