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| A protester sticks a "unity flag" with
the shape of the Korean peninsula on his mask during an
anti-American protest in Seoul on December 31. North Korean
media ended 2001 with a sharp blast at the U.S., accusing it
of plotting a war in Korea. REUTERS/Lee
Jae-won |
North Korea's
state-controlled media ended 2001 on Monday with a sharp blast at
the United States, accusing Washington of plotting a war in Korea to
further its aims of dominating Asia.
"The U.S. seeks to launch an aggression against the DPRK with
South Korea as its military stronghold in a bid to swallow up the
whole of Korea and, furthermore, dominate other Asian countries,"
said the ruling communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun.
DPRK is the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea.
"The U.S., buoyed up by its self-claimed 'victories' in a series
of wars in recent years, are running amuck to ignite a new war in
Korea," said the commentary, published by the official Korea Central
News Agency (KCNA).
The commentary did not mention specific American actions, but
followed weeks of hostile rhetoric which analysts said signalled
North Korean discomfiture at U.S. statements about the North's
suspected weapons of mass destruction.
In November, North Korea angrily rejected U.S. calls for
inspections to hunt for suspected weapons of mass destruction,
including biological and chemical arms.
The state of U.S.-North Korea ties is significantly different
from a year ago, when the Clinton administration had dramatically
improved relations with Pyongyang.
That budding rapprochement led to several high-level exchanges,
including a trip to North Korea by Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright, and talk of a visit by Bill Clinton.
The Bush administration put North Korean relations on ice when it
took office last January but in June offered talks without
conditions. North Korea has not taken up the offer.
North-South Korean ties spent nearly all of 2001 at a standstill,
despite an unprecedented series of exchanges in 2000 which raised
hopes of reconciliation.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because they failed to
sign a peace treaty at the end of the 1950-53 Korean conflict. The
United States keeps 37,000 troops in the South to deter a repeat of
the 1950 North Korean invasion which sparked the war.
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