North Korea Tuesday poured scorn on South Korea's proposal for bilateral nuclear talks, even after Seoul dropped its demand that Pyongyang first apologise for two deadly border incidents.
Its latest comments appeared to dim hopes of reviving a long-stalled six-party forum which is trying to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons in return for energy aid and security and diplomatic benefits.
South Korean officials said this week that Seoul is willing to hold a meeting with its neighbour on nuclear issues.
Talks host China and some other six-party members have proposed an inter-Korean nuclear meeting, followed by US-North Korean talks, to pave the way for a resumption of the full forum.
The South Korean officials said an apology was not a precondition for nuclear talks, even though Seoul demands that Pyongyang take responsibility for the incidents before any major dialogue on other issues.
But Minju Joson, the North's government newspaper, described the South's new approach as a "petty trick to ward off the domestic and foreign criticism" that Seoul was obstructing wider nuclear dialogue.
The Seoul government's "policy of confrontation" remains unchanged, it said, adding: "The group of traitors should be mercilessly punished just as a mad dog should be beaten with a stick."
Cross-border ties are at their lowest ebb in years after the South accused the North of torpedoing a warship in March 2010, killing 46 sailors.
Pyongyang angrily denied the charge but went on to shell a border island last November, killing four South Koreans including two civilians.
The six-party talks, grouping the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, have been stalled since the North abandoned them in April 2009. It staged its second nuclear test a month later.
