N. Korea says it will boycott nuke talks

SEOUL, South Korea – Blasting the United States for what it perceives as hostile intentions, North Korea said Monday it will not participate in working meetings ahead of six-party talks on its nuclear program.

North Korea claimed the “hastily” proposed working talks ahead of the full negotiations indicated “that the U.S. is, in actuality, not interested in making the dialogue fruitful but only seeks to give an impression that it makes efforts to solve the issue.”

The United States has said it would like to convene a working party meeting of participants in the six-nation talks as soon as possible to prepare for the next session, expected by Sept. 30. Along with the United States and North Korea, the talks include South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

“It is clear that there would be nothing to expect even if the DPRK sits at the negotiating table with the U.S. under the present situation,” an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency. DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North’s official name.

At the latest talks in June, North Korea offered to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for energy, the lifting of U.S. economic sanctions and removal from Washington’s list of state sponsors of terrorism. It said the freeze would be a step toward eventually dismantling the program.

The United States wants the North to go further and disclose all nuclear activities, help dismantle facilities and allow outside monitoring. Under the plan, some benefits would be withheld to ensure the North cooperates.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said all sides had agreed earlier to hold a working group meeting sometime before the September round of negotiations.

“We haven’t heard anything for the North Koreans at this point that would change our assumption about holding those talks. And at this point, we’re working with the Chinese, with the other parties and think that we’ll be moving forward on this shortly,” Casey said.

On Monday, North Korea repeated claims the United States was reserving the right to use force to disarm the country, although U.S. officials have said they have no intention of launching an invasion. Pyongyang also denied it was seeking to delay the nuclear talks to wait for results of the U.S. presidential election in November.

“A nuclear freeze is possible and it can lead to the dismantlement of the nuclear program only when the situation develops in the direction of the U.S. dropping hostile acts against the DPRK,” the ministry official said.

The reclusive North Korean government in the past has regularly heightened its rhetoric ahead of key talks.