N Korea postpones talks with Seoul on drills

Seoul, Mar 11: North Korea has postponed minister level talks with Seoul citing a major joint exercise by US and South Korean troops scheduled later this month, the South Korean unification ministry said today (Mar 11, 2006).

Pyongyang's minister-equivalent chief delegate, Cabinet Councillor Kwon Ho-ung, has notified Seoul's unification minister Lee Jong-seok that the talks would be postponed to April, the ministry said in a statement.

North Korea has criticised the joint exercise by the United States and South Korea, designed to coordinate defences of the southern half of the peninsula, as a dry run for an invasion.

''It is our stand that the hostile war exercises and peaceful dialogue cannot go together,'' Kwon was quoted as saying in the message carried by KCNA, the North's official media.

The delay comes as six-party talks on ending the North's nuclear programmes have hit a snag over a US crackdown on firms Washington suspects of helping Pyongyang in counterfeiting and other illicit activities.

South Korea also expressed regret.

''The postponement is hard to understand as we have repeatedly made it clear that the joint military exercise with the United States is aimed at defence and conducted annually,'' the unification ministry said.

Past ministerial meetings between the two Koreas, which technically remain in war, have produced deals covering economic assistance, mining and humanitarian cooperation.

Washington said it suspects North Korea of being involved in counterfeiting, money laundering and the drug trade, which it says have helped Pyongyang fund its nuclear weapons programmes.

The South Korean unification ministry said in a separate statement on Saturday the government was seeking a prompt resumption of the six-party talks among the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan. It did not elaborate.

REUTERS