Naval exercises, sanctions threaten peace: North Korea
By DPA, IANSThursday, July 22, 2010
HANOI - North Korea Thursday said planned US-South Korean naval exercises and new sanctions aimed at its leaders threatened peace and security on the peninsula, a media report said.
US and South Korean ministers announced the drills Wednesday in Seoul and the exercises are due to begin Sunday.
“Such a move presents a grave threat to the peace and security not only to the Korean Peninsula but to the region,” said Ri Tong Il, a spokesman for the North Korean delegation at a regional conference in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said.
He also complained about new US sanctions targeting the North Korean leadership, saying they only added “to the hostile policy against North Korea.”
South Korea accused the North of sinking one of its warships in March, killing 46 sailors, a charge the Stalinist regime denies.
The spokesman also said North Korea would only return to six-party talks aimed at securing an end to its nuclear programme on an “equal footing.”
North Korea quit the talks - which also involve China, Russia, South Korea, the US and Japan - after the UN Security Council imposed sanctions following a missile test.
