SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday it was postponing indefinitely a series of reunions for families separated during the Korean War that had been scheduled to start next week, saying conservative forces in the South were using them to heighten confrontation.

The six-day reunions were scheduled to start on Wednesday in the Mount Kumgang resort just north of the militarised border, and had been seen as an important element in a thaw in the chilled ties between the rivals that fought a war in 1950-1953.

"The reunions of separated families and relatives between the North and the South will be postponed until there can be a normal atmosphere where dialogue and negotiations can be held," a North Korean committee that handles ties with the South said in a statement carried by the KCNA news agency.