N. Korea slams Seoul's hosting of regional peace forum

North Korea lambasted South Korea Friday for hosting a forum on peace promotion in Northeast Asia, signaling it may not attend the forum despite Seoul's invitation.

South Korea plans to hold the Northeast Asia Peace Cooperation Initiative forum next week to discuss ways to better facilitate peace in the Asian region through non-political areas like energy security, nuclear safety and cyberspace.

Through the North's mission to the United Nations in New York, Seoul invited the communist country to the regional forum aimed at implementing President Park Geun-hye's policy vision of peace and cooperation promotion in the region.

The (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) lambasted Seoul's hosting of the forum, calling it a South Korean plot against the communist country.

"The Northeast Asia peace and cooperation initiative (by Park) is, in a nutshell, the result of collaboration the U.S. and the puppet regime of South Korea who aim to denuclearize and absorb us, and the coming forum is part of such efforts," the KCNA reported in an apparent boycott of the forum.

The falsehood and the reactionary element of the initiative hinge on the policy vision's special focus on the push to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, it noted.

The key to securing peace in the region lies in resolving bitter relations between the North and the U.S., the KCNA said, adding that the "hostile" U.S. policy toward the North is responsible for the instability there.

"The overriding task in securing security in Northeast Asia is to end hostile relationship and military confrontation between the North and the U.S.," the KCNA said.

The forum, scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday, will bring together high-level officials and private experts from the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and Mongolia, including Sydney Seiler, the new U.S. special envoy for the six-party nuclear talks. (Yonhap)