N. Korea cranks up rhetoric against U.S.

SEOUL, July 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's state media on Thursday escalated fiery rhetoric against the United States, as Pyongyang has shown little sign of engaging in diplomacy with Washington or Seoul, at least for now.

The North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper issued the criticism, describing decades of ongoing South Korea-U.S. military exercises as a sign that Washington's invasion ambitions against North Korea will never change.

"Even now, the U.S. is continuing its previous anti-North policy, sending strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula at a level equivalent to constant deployment," the newspaper said, accusing Washington of worsening security conditions and staging provocative acts.

"We have become strong and stronger ... This fact is demonstrated by the reality facing some countries that became targets of invasion and were beaten and humiliated because they were weak," the Rodong Sinmun noted.

The daily said that the country's security environment and the people's livelihoods could be endangered if it loosens its efforts to bolster defense capabilities even for a moment.

The newspaper also claimed that the unipolar international order led by the U.S. is being shattered, adding that this has fundamentally shifted the power structure in East Asia and has left a large chasm in the rule of "imperialism."

pbr@yna.co.kr
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