N Korea postpones talks with Seoul over drills-Yonhap

SEOUL, Mar 11 (Reuters) North Korea has postponed minister-level talks with Seoul citing a major joint exercise by U.S. and South Korean troops scheduled later this month, South Korea's Yonhap News today reported.

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, Yonhap reported citing the North's official media KCNA.

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.

''Hostile war training and peaceful dialogue cannot go together,'' Kwon was quoted as saying in the message sent to Lee.

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.

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.

REUTERS DKS SP1322