Rodong Sinmun, the ruling communist party's daily, said US "hardline conservatives" were bent on rolling back improvements in relations between Washington and Pyongyang, as well as progress made at six-party nuclear talks.

"They should bear in mind that the nuclear issue on the peninsula can never be settled should they again seek the triangular cooperation mechanism for pressure which had failed in the 1980s," it said in a commentary.

This was an apparent reference to pressure from the United States, South Korea and Japan in the 1980s.

US hardliners "broke into cheers" on hearing of the conservative victory in South Korea's December presidential election, and see the power change as a new opportunity for "strangling North Korea," the daily said.

"It is a foolish daydream for them to try to gain something through cooperation in pressurising the DPRK (North Korea)," it said.

"The persistent efforts made by them to seek cooperation in pressurising the DPRK from the stand of escaping from reality would only compel it to more strongly react to them."

South Korean president-elect Lee Myung-Bak, who takes office on February 25, has promised a firmer stance on North Korea. But he also promised "full-scale" economic cooperation if Pyongyang completely scraps its atomic weapons.

The North missed a December 31 deadline to disable its main atomic facilities and give a full declaration of all nuclear programmes, as required under a six-nation accord.

In response to the disabling and declaration, negotiating partners were to supply one million tons of fuel oil or equivalent energy aid. The US was to start the process of removing North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The daily's commentary blamed the delay on the failure of other nations, especially the United States, to fulfil their side of the agreement. The six-party process groups the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan.

"The agreed points have not been implemented as scheduled not because of the DPRK but because of the failure of other participating nations to adhere to the principle of simultaneous action," the paper said.

Especially, it said, the United States has not yet removed the North from the list of terror-sponsoring states or eased other restrictions on trade.

The North has so far received some 150,000 tons of fuel oil plus 5,100 tons of steel plate, apparently for repairing power stations.

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