North Korea dismisses postponement of joint drills

SEOUL (AFP, REUTERS) - The United States must end its joint exercises with Seoul "once and for all" to facilitate dialogue with Pyongyang, North Korea said on Tuesday (Nov 19), just days after the allies postponed planned drills.

The US and South Korea said on Sunday they would delay annual joint aerial exercises slated for this month in an act of "goodwill" after months of deadlocked nuclear talks.

Pyongyang has long protested the joint drills, which it condemns as preparations for invasion, and Seoul and Washington last year cancelled several training sessions in the wake of the Singapore summit between President Donald Trump and the North's leader Kim Jong Un.

But Kim Yong Chol, a senior North Korean official who formerly led talks with the US, said the weekend postponement was irrelevant.

"We demand that the US quit the drill or stop it once and for all," Kim said in a statement carried by the KCNA news agency.

"The suspension of the drill does not mean ensuring peace and security on the Korean peninsula and is not helpful to the diplomatic efforts," he added.

The North had "no intention" to sit down with the "tricky US" and would not return to talks "before the complete and irrevocable withdrawal of its hostile policy".

"From now on, the DPRK will get due compensation for every administrative achievement the US president has talked too much about for over a year," Kim added, referring to the North by its official name.

Trump has repeatedly pointed to North Korea's moratorium on nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile launches as foreign policy successes for him.

But negotiations have been gridlocked since the Hanoi summit in February broke up in disagreement over sanctions relief, while October's working-level talks rapidly broke down in Sweden.

Tuesday's statement was the latest in a series of increasingly assertive comments from the North as its end-of-year deadline for the US to come up with a fresh offer approaches, and it has also carried out multiple weapons tests in recent weeks.

Trump hinted at the prospect of a fourth meeting with Kim in a tweet at the weekend, only to be dismissed by the North, which said it had no interest in summits "that bring nothing to us".

Meanwhile, North Korean state media on Tuesday published detailed reports of a visit by its leader Kim Jong Un to two fisheries, underscoring his drive to build economic independence as the negotiations with the US to lift the punishing sanctions on North Korea soured.

Kim has been increasingly driving "self-reliant" development as the centrepiece of a five-year economic strategy begun in 2016.

His visit to the fish processing plants was splashed across a two-page spread in state newspaper Rodong Sinmun. The report included 25 photos of Kim touring fish pens, looking at blocks of frozen fish, talking to workers, and smiling amid what appeared to be large refrigerators.

According to Rodong Sinmun and the official KCNA news agency, Kim criticised army officials for letting the construction of a fish processing line lapse, praised the manager of one of the plants for loyal ambition, and invited some of the people there to Pyongyang.

"We're now fighting for a breakthrough in improving the lives of the people," Kim said according to KCNA.

North Korea has been demanding a lifting of the sanctions that have hobbled its economy.