SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Monday canceled a joint cultural event it had planned to hold with South Korea early next month, blaming “insulting” South Korean news media coverage of its participation in the Winter Olympics, South Korean officials said.

When the two Koreas agreed this month that the North would send a delegation to the Olympics being held in the South Korean town of Pyeongchang, they also agreed to hold a joint pre-Olympic cultural performance in the North’s Mount Kumgang resort on Feb. 4.

But it informed the South on Monday night that it was canceling that program. South Korea had planned to send K-pop bands and other musicians to perform alongside North Korean art troupes at Mount Kumgang.

The North’s sudden decision did not affect its plan to send 22 athletes to the Games or its separate plan to send an art troupe, consisting of a pop orchestra and dancers, to the South to perform before and during the Olympics, which begin on Feb. 8. Still, it showed the unpredictability of the North Korean government.