SEOUL, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- South Korea on Friday expressed its deep regret over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s latest statement threatening to exclude Seoul from any peace talks.

    The government deeply regretted that the DPRK took a threatening stance toward South Korea "based on some unconfirmed media reports," Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said in a statement.

    Seoul's remark came after the DPRK threatened earlier in the day to exclude South Korea from any peace talks in respond to a new South Korean government plan of emergency against Pyongyang.

    The DPRK's National Defense Commission said in a statement that if South Korea dared to enforce the plan, it would receive pitiless retaliation from the north side and would be excluded from any kind of talks or negotiations to improve bilateral ties and maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula, according to Pyongyang's official news agency KCNA.

    The KCNA said South Korean media reported on Wednesday that officials in Seoul have drawn up a plan to deal with the North in case of Pyongyang's "leadership collapse, a coup or a popular uprising" there.

DPRK threats to exclude S Korea from peace talks

    PYONGYANG, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) threatened Friday to exclude South Korea from any peace talks in respond to a new South Korean government plan of emergency against the DPRK, the official KCNA news said.

    If South Korea dared to enforce the plan, it would receive pitiless retaliation from the north side and would be excluded from any kind of talks or negotiations to improve bilateral ties and maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula, said a statement of the National Defense Commission.   Full story