A North Korean missile is displayed during a military parade in Pyongyang. (File photo)<\/p>\n
A senior security advisor to the South Korean president will travel to the United States next week for talks about North Korea™s nuclear program and bilateral security issues.\n<\/p>\n
According to a report by the Dong-a Ilbo<\/i> newspaper published on Friday, Kim Jang-soo, the chief of the South Korean presidential national security office, plans to meet White House National Security Advisor Susan Rice and other US foreign affairs and security officials.\n<\/p>\n
The visit comes after a three-nation naval drill involving warships from the United States, South Korea and Japan on the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula.\n<\/p>\n
The two-day joint military exercise, which started on October 10, drew Pyongyang™s ire. North Korea on October 11 threatened to œbury in the sea” an American aircraft carrier that participated in the military exercise.\n<\/p>\n
On October 12, North Korea™s National Defense Commission (NDC), chaired by leader Kim Jong-un, said in a statement that Washington must remove its policy of hostility against Pyongyang if it seeks peace on both the Korean Peninsula and the œUS mainland.”\n<\/p>\n
œThe denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is an inalterable policy goal of the DPRK (the Democratic People™s Republic of Korea) government,” the statement said, adding that Washington should also totally remove its nuclear threats against Pyongyang.\n<\/p>\n
Washington must stop the œconstant nuclear blackmails” and lift sanctions against North Korea, according to the statement.\n<\/p>\n
In 2009, six-party talks involving North Korea, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States stalled when Pyongyang walked out in protest against a new round of UN sanctions over its nuclear test.\n<\/p>\n
The negotiations are aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.\n<\/p>\n
North Korea says it is developing a nuclear arsenal in an effort to protect itself from the US military, which occasionally deploys nuclear-powered warships and aircraft able to carry atomic bombs.\n<\/p>\n
MR\/HSN<\/p>\n<\/div>\n