North Korea said Monday that prospects for talks
on its nuclear weapons program are getting dimmer every day and it
condemned U.S.-led naval exercises in Japanese waters as an ``ultimate
war action.'' The comments, carried by the North's official Korean
Central News Agency, came only hours after Secretary of State Colin
Powell blamed the communist country for the delay in holding new
six-nation talks on its nuclear program. KCNA said U.S. military
maneuvers around the Korean peninsula show that Washington ``does not
stand for a peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue.'' Currently on a
trip to Asia, Powell reiterated that Washington seeks a diplomatic end
to the dispute with Pyongyang. "The DPRK is compelled to serve a
serious warning to the U.S., regarding the exercise as a move to
implement the U.S. pre-emptive interception strategy aimed to isolate
and stifle the DPRK internationally and an ultimate war action,'' KCNA
said. DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's official name -- the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The news agency was referring to
eight-nation naval exercises in Japanese waters scheduled to begin this
week. Besides the United States and Japan, seven other countries will
take part in the naval exercise, with 14 more serving as observers. [more ]
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