North Korea says it will delay a scheduled round of high level inter-Korean talks, because of an upcoming joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States.
The official Korean Central News Agency Saturday referred to the war games as "hostile", and said the drills cannot be conducted alongside peaceful talks.
The joint exercises are to begin March 25, and will include at least 5,000 U.S. troops. It is not clear how many South Korean troops will participate.
The latest round of Cabinet level talks between the two Koreas was expected to begin in late March as well.
Pyongyang has repeatedly urged South Korea to scrap the joint exercises. North Korea says the United States uses the drills as preparations for an invasion, a claim Washington denies.
