North Korea has denounced the 2014 Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation forum slated to be held in Seoul next week.
 
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Friday that South Korea’s Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative is an "anti-republic scheme.”
 
It added that the initiative was designed by the U.S. and its puppet South Korea with the goal to push the North to give up its nuclear capabilities and to unify the Korean Peninsula by having Seoul absorb Pyongyang. It claimed that the latest forum is part of the scheme.
 
The response came after South Korea invited the North on Thursday to attend the forum. 
 
High-ranking officials from South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and Mongolia are set to attend the event which will be held from October 28 to 30.