Message from Pyongyang

[Anchor Lead]

More harsh rhetoric out of Pyongyang today following its abrupt cancellation of inter-Korean talks on Wednesday. The North said that unless the situation changes, it will find it difficult to hold talks with the South again at all.

[Pkg]

Having talks with Seoul again will be difficult, unless the ongoing grave situation that led to the postponement of high-level inter-Korean meeting is resolved. Such is the message from Ri Son-kwon the chair of the regime's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland in an interview with the state media. Judging by the fact that Pyongyang used Max Thunder as a reason to indefinitely delay the talks, North Korea is likely to have demanded a decrease in the scope of the Seoul-Washington joint military exercise or even halt it. The communist state also criticized the South for siding with Washington, which vowed to continue its maxiumum pressure campaign and sanctions until the North's complete denuclearization. The hermit kingdom adds, it cannot just sit and chat casually when there's a chance of being attacked. Pyongyang also took issue with the news conference of former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-ho, branding him "human scum" for criticizing the regime. The North called Seoul's proposition to hold talks on military exercises an "utterly shameless act" aimed at justifying its rehearsals for invasion. Pyongyang is apparently trying to pressure Seoul to reduce the scale of the combined drills with the U.S. This may also be an attempt to use Seoul to gain an edge in its standoff with Washington over the way to denuclearize.