Asia-Pacific

DPRK says prepared for both dialogue and war

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-24 19:50
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PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Saturday that the country is prepared for dialogue and for war in face of joint US and South Korean war games, the official news agency KCNA reported.

Washington's recent declaration of holding large-scale military exercises with South Korea and imposing new sanctions against the DPRK indicates that it has not discarded its Cold War way of thinking and has pursued confrontation, a Foreign Ministry spokesman told the KCNA.

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The United States has rejected talks with the DPRK -- bilateral or six-party talks, reneging on its commitments before the international community, he said.

"The US provocations amount to trespassing on the off-limits fixed by the DPRK and it, therefore, feels no need to remain bounded to the off-limits drawn by the United States," said the spokesman.

"The DPRK will bolster its nuclear deterrent in a more diversified manner and take strong physical measures as it had already clarified, now that the US opted for military provocations, sanctions and pressure, defying the demand of the international community including the UN Security Council," he said.

The United States will be held wholly accountable for all ensuing consequences, the spokesman warned.

The United States and South Korea agreed in a meeting in Seoul on Wednesday to stage a series of joint naval and air drills starting next week.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after the meeting that her country will introduce new "country-specific" sanctions against the DPRK's procurement of nuclear materials.

The US-South Korean war games come amid rising tensions between the DPRK and South Korea over the sinking of a South Korean warship in late March.