Anchor: North Korea announced a series of statements on Thursday that it will not hold talks with the South unless Seoul and Washington stop their military exercises. Pyongyang also criticized UN sanction measures on its nuclear and missile tests. With inter-Korean tensions expected to persist, Seoul's Foreign Minister will fly to Japan and China to try and find a way to diffuse the situation.
Jang Souie has more.

Report: The National Defense Commission’s policy department of North Korea says if South Korea and the United States want dialogue and negotiations, all provocations should be ended and apologies should be issued.

The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency carried the North's statement on Thursday which also specified that UN Security Council sanctions must be scrapped first to hold talks.

The statement also argued that South Korea should halt its anti-communist scheme of blaming the North for the sinking of the Cheonan warship and the massive cyber attack on South Korean media and banks last month.

Earlier in the day, North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said that there will be neither dialogue nor improved relations between the two Koreas if South Korea and the United States continue to team up and engage in hostile acts.

An official of Seoul's Unification Ministry told reporters that Pyongyang is turning away from Seoul and Washington’s request for dialogue, calling the latest statement only a cliché claim.

While tensions between the two Koreas are expected to be prolonged, Foreign Minister Yoon Byung-se is expected to visit China and Japan within this month to find a breakthrough to the situation.

A Foreign Ministry official said Thursday that the government is currently working on Yoon’s visit to neighboring countries before President Park Geun-hye visits the U.S. early next month. Seoul is said to be coordinating details to hold bilateral talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.

Some officials and experts in Seoul began forging hopeful predictions that if North Korea does not make additional provocations, Seoul and Pyongyang could engage in dialogue following a cooling-off period after South Korea and the U.S.' Foal Eagle Exercise ends at the end of April.

Jang Souie, KBS World Radio News.