North Korea accuses Rex Tillerson of 'infantile deception'

May 25 (UPI) -- North Korea accused Rex Tillerson on Thursday of engaging in "infantile deception" designed to "castrate" Pyongyang's nuclear capability.

The statement from North Korea's Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee was issued the same day Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun accused the United States of being "two-faced" in negotiations, following recently reported comments on U.S. North Korea policy from the secretary of state.

"The United States may spread around its beggar's song of 'trust us' everywhere but even at this moment the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Carl Vinson is conducting joint naval exercises with [South Korean] puppet forces while looking for a chance to launch an invasion," the North Korean committee's spokesman said.

The spokesman added the United States may talk about dialogue but Washington lacks sincere intentions.

"The United States' call for dialogue is nothing more than infantile deception, designed to castrate our reprisal strike capability. It clearly shows it still harbors the ambition of a predatory dog, that can at any moment ignite the hazards of nuclear war."

Last week Tillerson told visiting South Korean special envoy Hong Seok-hyun, a former ambassador to the United States, to "trust the U.S." and its ultimate goal of peaceful denuclearization.

"The most impressive thing that I heard [from Tillerson] was that sanctions and pressure are not by themselves aimed at harassing North Korea, but are designed to create an opportunity for North Korea's development through opening its doors and scrapping its nuclear program," Hong told reporters after the meeting.

Pyongyang's Rodong Sinmun echoed the distrust in the North Korean committee's statement on Thursday.

"On the façade they hang a sign that reads 'dialogue and negotiations' but in reality they are trying to disarm us from the inside," the newspaper stated. "This is Yankee-style extreme double-sidedness and pride."

North Korea also said in the statement it would never give up its "socialist" way of life.