North Korea takes aim at U.S. policy

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PYONGYANG, North Korea, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. actions in the Asia-Pacific region suggest the country aims to start a war on the Korean Peninsula, a North Korean newspaper reported Friday.

State-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun published an article Friday that said the United States was trying to start a war on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports.

The newspaper is a body of the ruling communist Workers' Party of Korea. Yonhap said the media arm's message is viewed as an elaboration of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's recent speech.

Titled "The fight for Asian and global peace," the article says the United States' so-called pivot to Asia is a threat to regional stability.

Kim issued a New Year's speech seen as offering a conciliatory tone to neighboring South Korea. Both sides remain technically at war. Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said Washington was judging North Korean "not by its words but by its actions."

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and former New Mexico Gov. and U.N. envoy Bill Richardson have scheduled visits to North Korea, The New York Times reports. Nuland said both men were visiting on their own initiative.

"They are not carrying any messages from us," she said. "Frankly, we don't think the timing of this is particularly helpful, but they are private citizens and they are making their own decisions."