N Korea warns US it will ‘not sit idle’

AMERICA CREATING INTER-KOREAN MISTRUST

North Korea has warned if the US goes ahead with delayed military exercises with South Korea after the Winter Olympics it will not “sit idle”, the North’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said in a letter to the United Nations.

North Korea has not tested a missile since late November 2017, and entered into inter-Korean dialogue in January, the first talks in two years which have eased tensions after a year of escalating rhetoric between Pyongyang and Washington.

Whenever joint military exercises took place “the peace and security of the Korean peninsula were gravely threatened and the inter-Korean mistrust and confrontation reached the top, thus creating great difficulties and obstacles ahead of hard-won dialogues”, said the letter.

“We will make every effort to improve inter-Korean relations in future, too, but never sit idle with regard to sinister acts of throwing a wet blanket over our efforts.”

The US and South Korea have agreed to push back a routine early-year joint military drill until after the South holds the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Joseph Yun, the US special envoy on North Korea, said on Thursday all options remain on the table for solving the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear missile programme but that he did not think the Trump administration was close to triggering military action.

In the letter, the North also said that the US was “misleading” public opinion by claiming its tough actions brought about the inter-Korean talks.

“The fact that a dramatic turning point has been made for peace and stability, national reconciliation and cooperation, and reunification on the Korean peninsula where a touch-and-go war danger was prevailing, is entirely thanks to the noble love for the nation by respected Comrade Kim JongUn.” the letter read.

In a commentary yesterday, the North’s state media said the US is attempting to create a “stage of confrontation” at the Olympics, adding that inter-Korean talks and positive results that have stemmed from them could “disappear” after the Games. –