WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The U.S. State Department gave a terse response Thursday to North Korea's demands for South Korea to offer an apology as a precondition for dialogue.
"I think we've long said no preconditions," Victoria Nuland, the department's spokeswoman, said at a press briefing.
The routine comments were her only answer to a lengthy question from a reporter on the North's latest formal statement for the South and other nations.
A day earlier, the North's top ruling body, the National Defense Commission, called for Seoul to apologize for what it claims is a series of crimes, including the refusal to send an official mourning delegation after the December death of leader Kim Jong-il and accusations against Pyongyang for the deadly sinking of a naval warship in 2010.
The commission, seemingly controlled by Pyongyang's new leader, Kim Jong-un, also urged the South to cancel joint annual military drills with the U.S., scheduled to start late this month.
"Are the South Korean authorities ready to deeply repent their crimes concerning the great loss to the Korean nation and make apologies for them?" it said in a form of an "open questionnaire."
Nuland's brief response at a daily press briefing was quite unusual. She typically gives relatively lengthy answers to any questions on North Korea and other international affairs.
"It seems like that she believed it was not worthy of responding to North Korea's claims," a diplomatic source said.
South Korean officials also earlier said they feel no need to comment on the North's statement.
The U.S. State Department was unresponsive to Yonhap News Agency's separate inquiry later on its position.