DPRK urges U.S. to drop hostility

Highlights:
• DPRK on Friday blamed the United States for tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
• Obama reiterated his country's defense commitment to S. Korea with conventional, nuclear forces.
• DPRK had slammed Park's first visit to U.S. and her meeting with Obama as a prelude to war.

PYONGYANG, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday blamed the United States for tensions on the Korean Peninsula and urged it to stop hostility against Pyongyang.

The U.S. claim that all its military actions are defensive while all DPRK actions are provocative is nothing but sheer sophism with rhetoric, the official KCNA news agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying.

It was the U.S. dispatch of B-52, B-2A, F-22 and other warplanes that compelled Pyongyang to take tough countermeasures for self-defense, said the unnamed spokesman.

"Unless the U.S. stops its hostile acts against the DPRK and drops its hostility, the root cause of tension will not be removed and the tension and danger of conflicts are bound to repeat themselves," he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama would be well advised not to talk about "change" in the DPRK but reflect on his own wrong view and make a bold decision to correct it, he added.

On Tuesday, after talks with visiting South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Obama reiterated his country's defense commitment to South Korea with both conventional and nuclear forces.

"Our two nations are prepared to engage with North Korea diplomatically and over time build trust," Obama said, asking Pyongyang to "take meaningful steps to abide by its commitments and obligations, particularly the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

The DPRK had slammed Park's first visit to the United States and her meeting with Obama as a prelude to war.

Tensions have been running high on the Korean Peninsula since the DPRK conducted its third nuclear test on Feb. 12.

Pyongyang warned Tuesday that it would "mercilessly avenge" any breach of its territorial sovereignty during the ongoing South Korean-U.S. anti-submarine drills in the Yellow Sea.

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