US offers are pie in the sky, says North Korea

SOUTH Korea yesterday said it was prepared for a worst-case scenario that included war if diplomacy failed to resolve the crisis over the North’s suspected nuclear weapons ambitions.

At the same time, the top US envoy for Asia said in Beijing the whole international community agreed that the Korean peninsula must be free of nuclear weapons but held out little hope of a speedy outcome.

"It's going to be a slow process to make sure we achieve this in the right way," US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly told reporters after talks with Chinese leaders.