North Korea said today that Washington’s rejection of bilateral talks to solve a nuclear crisis was illogical and aimed to thwart Pyongyang’s efforts to improve its economy and Communist system. North Korea wants a non-aggression pact with the US, while Washington favours multilateral talks to press Pyongyang to shut down its suspected nuclear weapons programme.North Korea had threatened to pull out of the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War if sanctions were imposed on it. Washington dismissed that as ‘‘strident rhetoric’’ but N Korea hit back with its own dig at US.‘‘The US is insisting on its assertion that it cannot respond to Democratic People’s Republic of Korea-US talks as they mean a sort of reward for DPRK despite unanimous world public opinion that DPRK-US direct talks should take place to find a solution to the nuclear issue,’’ North Korea’s KCNA news agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying in a statement. ‘‘This is an illogical far-fetched assertion.” The statement, published on Wednesday, said Washington was desperately trying to hamstring North’s efforts to improve its Communist system. A second KCNA report said the US announcement this week of major annual US-South Korean military drills to be held in March and April ‘‘clearly prove that US’s plan for a nuclear war has entered the phase of implementation’’.South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-Hyun, to be inaugurated next week, has been caught in the middle of the crisis.Roh, highlighting a S Korea-US rift that Pyongyang has worked hard to widen, said on Wednesday he differed with the US because he would rule out a military attack on the North, while Washington says it retains that option. ‘‘I oppose even considering an armed attack on N Korea at this stage because that can provoke a war which would have serious consequences,’’ Roh said.‘‘We have never had a difference of opinion with US on an international level. But we have one now on how we plan to counter N Korea,’’ he said. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer called Pyongyang’s comments ‘‘predictable’’, but said President George W. Bush was still searching for a diplomatic resolution.‘‘This is not the first time that North Korea has used strident rhetoric as a way to blackmail other nations into providing economic or other benefits,’’ Fleischer said.Bush and other US officials have repeatedly said Washington has no intention of attacking the North.It was not clear whether the armistice threat, by the North’s Korean People’s Army, or KPA, was anything more than fresh brinkmanship. North Korea quit most armistice activities in 1994 and has a history of challenging the truce.Pyongyang’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said US statements calling for dialogue and saying it had no plans to attack N Korea were ‘‘a camouflaged peace tactic to cover up its attempt to ignite a war of aggression’’. There was no sign of unusual tension at the Panmunjom truce village which straddles the North-South border 50 km North of Seoul. Both sides continued regular tours for tourists and journalists. (Reuters)
