DPRK slams US for trying to aggravate situation amid inter-Korean peace efforts

PYONGYANG -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on late Monday accused the United States of trying to aggravate the situation on the Korean Peninsula despite recent efforts by the DPRK and the Republic of Korea (ROK) to seek a detente of relations.

DPRK and ROK officials on Tuesday started their first ministerial level meeting at the truce village of Panmunjom, aiming to thaw the frozen bilateral relations aside from discussing the DPRK's participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

On the eve of the meeting, the DPRK official daily Rodong Sinmun published a commentary saying the "DPRK's proactive step and sincere efforts from the beginning of the year command full support and deep sympathy at home and abroad."

"However, the US which does not wish peace and stability of the Peninsula is now uneasy and restless," it said.

The daily criticized the United States for organizing meetings of its Korean War allies on how to deal with Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs this month in Canada, saying "the meetings are targeted against" the DPRK.

The Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Security and Stability on Korean Peninsula, co-hosted by Canada and the United States, will be convened in Vancouver on Jan 16, with most of the countries which joined in the 1950-1953 Korean War being invited.

Recalling US moves last year of conducting "the largest-ever nuclear war exercises on the Peninsula one after another," the daily said US President Donald Trump "is busy calling upon the vassal forces that took part in the Korean War of aggression for a confab for a new war just as the US did in the 1950s."

DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un, in his New Year's speech last week, offered the participation of DPRK athletes at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The olive branch has resulted in a high-level meeting at Panmunjom on Tuesday, focusing on the DPRK's participation in the Winter Olympic Games slated for February.