North Korea blamed US "nuclear blackmail" for soaring tensions over its weapons programme in rare meetings with a senior UN official, but agreed to regular communication with the organisation, state media said Saturday.
Jeffrey Feltman arrived in Beijing Saturday after wrapping up a five-day visit to Pyongyang aimed at defusing the crisis, just a week after North Korea said it test-fired a new ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.
His trip -- the first by a UN diplomat of his rank since 2010 -- saw him meet Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho and vice foreign minister Pak Myong-Kuk, the North's state news agency KCNA said.
"At these meetings, our side said the US policy of hostility toward the DPRK (North Korea) and its nuclear blackmail are to blame for the current tense situation on the Korean peninsula," the report said.
It added that the North had agreed with the UN "to regularize communications through visits at various levels".
The report did not mention any meetings with leader Kim Jong-Un, who has ramped up his impoverished nation's missile and nuclear programme in recent years in order to achieve Pyongyang's stated goal of developing a warhead capable of hitting the US mainland.
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