5:01am Nov 18, 2017 North Korea is ruling out negotiations with Washington as long as joint US-South Korea military exercises continue, saying Pyongyang's atomic weapons program would remain as a deterrent against a US nuclear threat.

South Korea and the United States agreed on Friday to keep working for a peaceful end to the North Korean nuclear crisis, but a US envoy said it was difficult to gauge the reclusive North's intentions.

"As long as there is continuous hostile policy against my country by the US and as long as there are continued war games at our doorstep, then there will not be negotiations," North Korea's Han said. Han, who is ambassador to the UN's Conference on Disarmament, was speaking at the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) mission in Geneva, where the DPRK and the United States secured a 1994 nuclear deal which later fell apart.

China said on Thursday that a "dual suspension" proposal to handle North Korea was still the best option, after US President Donald Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had rejected a "freeze for freeze" agreement. North Korea could not consider abandoning its nuclear programme, he said, adding: "This is the deterrent, the nuclear deterrent to cope with the nuclear threat from America." © RAW 2018

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