North Korea lashes out at exercises between South, US

North Korea said yesterday annual joint war exercises between the US and South Korea raised doubts as to whether Washington would soften its hostility toward the communist state ahead of key diplomatic talks.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry spokesman made the comment just days after Washington and Pyongyang said they had agreed to hold crucial six-country talks to resolve a festering standoff over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

"The US along with its warlike allies in South Korea plan to conduct the Ulji Focus Lens joint military exercises from Aug. 18 to 29," the spokesman said in a Korean-language statement issued by Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency.

"We cannot but be suspicious as to whether the United States will transform its hostile policy against our republic, watching it conduct war practices at a time when six-way talks are on the agenda," said the statement.

Pyongyang US hostility for its decision to scrap a series of international non-proliferation pledges in a quest to build nuclear weapons.

The Ulchi Focus Lens drills, conducted annually for the past three decades, involve computer-simulated war games to test US and South Korean commanders' readiness for emergencies on the peninsula.

The US has 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea. The two countries regularly conduct joint military exercises since North and South Korea remain technically at war. The 1950 to 1953 Korean War ended without a peace treaty.