South Korea's foreign ministry on Tuesday urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to return to a dialogue table as tensions mounted on the Korean Peninsula amid the exchange of harsh rhetoric between the DPRK and the United States.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk told a press briefing that the DPRK should recognize a fact that the root cause of the escalated tensions on the peninsula was the DPRK itself conducting nuclear and missile provocations and issuing threatening rhetoric.
The spokesman said Pyongyang should rapidly return to a dialogue table for the denuclearized peninsula.
Tensions ran high on the peninsula after U.S. President Donald Trump said in his UN debut speech last week that his nation would "totally destroy" the DPRK if Pyongyang continues to threaten the United States and its allies.
In response to the Trump's speech, top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un issued a rare statement that warned Washington of "the highest-level hardline countermeasure in history."
The U.S. president tweeted that the DPRK would not be "around much longer," and DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said in New York overnight that it amounted to a declaration of war.
Noh said the DPRK top diplomat's comment on the war declaration was not right as the White House denied the declaration of war and vowed to make continued efforts for the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization in a peaceful manner.
