SEOUL, Dec 11: North Korea’s foreign ministry has said six-nation talks on dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programme have been suspended “for an indefinite period” because of US financial sanctions on the Stalinist state. In its latest response to a US envoy calling Pyongyang a “criminal regime” engaged in money laundering and counterfeiting, a spokesman for North Korea’s foreign ministry told the Korean Central News Agency the United States was “faking up lies” to disrupt the six-way talks.

“The US is now overturning the basic principles of the joint statement reached at the six-party talks one by one,” the spokesman said in an interview with the agency conducted on Saturday and carried on Sunday.

“It scuttled the DPRK (North Korean)-US financial talks, in particular, holding off the six-party talks for an indefinite period.”

A proposed US-North Korean meeting on the financial sanctions did not take place this month, as North Korea wanted to negotiate on the issue while the United States simply wanted to hold a briefing instead.

The six-way talks involving China, the two Koreas, the United States, Russia and Japan are aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programmes but have been deadlocked, with North Korea threatening a boycott over the US sanctions.

The US Treasury Department in September told US financial institutions to stop dealing with a Macau bank, Banco Delta Asia, which it accused of being a willing front for North Korean counterfeiting.

A month later the US blacklisted eight North Korean companies allegedly involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

North Korea on Tuesday threatened to boycott the six-way talks unless the United States lifted the financial sanctions.

US Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow on Wednesday dismissed the North’s threat, calling Pyongyang as a “criminal regime” engaged in the illegal activities.

A spokesman for North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said on Saturday the remarks by Vershbow amounted to a “declaration of war,” dimming the prospect of six-way talks resuming.

After more than two years of negotiations, North Korea agreed in principle at the fourth round of talks in Beijing in September to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme in return for economic and diplomatic benefits.

But the latest round ended in stalemate last month with the North accusing the United States of breaching the September agreement by imposing sanctions on its firms.

Negotiators agreed to resume the talks soon but set no date. South Korea has been pushing for the talks to resume in January.—AFP