Thu Apr 4,10:11 AM ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea (news - web sites) said on Thursday that the United States was its "most wicked sworn enemy" in a series of diatribes issued less than 24 hours after Pyongyang dropped hints it might restart frozen dialogue with Washington.
"The U.S. is the most wicked sworn enemy of the Korean nation as it is not only hindering inter-Korean exchange and cooperation ... but also putting a stumbling block in the way of achieving Korea's reunification," the state media quoted the North's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee as saying.
A separate KCNA report quoted a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as demanding Washington pay compensation for what it said was a U.S. failure to uphold a key deal which froze Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons program.
Yet another statement, in the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper, demanded the withdrawal of U.S. troops in South Korea (news - web sites), saying "it is imperative to put an end to the presence in South Korea by the U.S. imperialist aggression troops."
In what was taken in Washington as a possible sign North Korea was willing to talk, late on Wednesday, KCNA quoted a Foreign Ministry official as saying Pyongyang would re-engage with an international consortium at the heart of the crucial nuclear agreement with the United States.