(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) oul April 23 - North Korea pledged Wednesday not to lay down its nuclear weapons as it called on South Korea to stop annual joint military drills with the United States South Korea's News (Yonhap) reported. The North vowed last year to develop its economy and nuclear arsenal in tandem a dual-track policy South Korea and the US have warned is a dead end for the communist country. The North has called its nuclear programs a "treasured sword" against what it claims is Washington's policy of hostility. South Korea "should not even dream that we will be coaxed into laying down our nuclear" programs by sweet talk the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in comments carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency. The committee which handles inter-Korean affairs was referring to South Korean President Park Geun-hye's initiative toward North Korea. Park called for the bolstering of exchanges with the North as a first step toward building trust between the sides to lay the groundwork for unification of the two Koreas. She unveiled the proposal called the Dresden Declaration during her trip to the former East German city of Dresden last month. The committee's comments came as North Korea has increased movements of vehicles and troops at its main nuclear test site an possible indication that Pyongyang will conduct another nuclear test as US President Barack Obama visits Asia. North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006 2009 and February 2013 drawing international condemnation and tougher UN sanctions. The North has threatened to carry out a "new form" of nuclear test in anger over the UN's condemnation of its ballistic missile launches into the sea off its east coast. The committee pressed South Korea to halt its annual military drills with the US which Pyongyang condemns as a rehearsal for invasion. It also called on South Korea to lift its sanctions imposed on Pyongyang nearly four years ago.
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