North Korean foreign affairs ministry's Kim Myong-gil, center, speaks on behalf of the state in front of the North Korean embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. 5, 2019, after he met Stephen Biegun, the United States Special Representative for North Korea, to discuss about North Korea's denuclearization process. Yonhap

South Korea has proposed sending a delegation to inspect its long-abandoned facilities at North Korea's Mount Kumgang, the unification ministry said Wednesday, after Pyongyang rejected Seoul's offer to hold face-to-face talks on the fate of the suspended joint tour program.

In the proposal sent Tuesday, the ministry said the delegation will be comprised of government officials and business people. The move appears aimed at seeking face-to-face contacts with the North to discuss the fate of the tour program to the mountain on its scenic east coast.

The proposal came about a week after Pyongyang turned down Seoul's offer for working-level talks over its demand to remove all the facilities built by the South at the mountain in an apparent threat to end the joint tour program.

"Schedules and other details related to the visit will be determined through consultations with the North," Lee Sang-min, the ministry's spokesperson, told a regular press briefing.

"I have to repeat that this matter should be resolved through an agreement (between the two Koreas) and that we need to seek inter-Korean meetings for discussions," he added.

Last week, North Korea asked South Korea to come and remove its facilities there at an "agreed-upon date" but insisted on discussing details in writing, not through face-to-face meetings.