North Korea on Monday said it can see no difference between the previous U.S. administration and the current one. It said the government of Barack Obama, one of whose election slogans was "change we can believe in," "is nothing different from the preceding administration."

The statement was made by a Foreign Ministry spokesman to the official KCNA news agency. The spokesman said the U.S. forced the UN Security Council to review the North's "peaceful satellite launch" while "fabricating" a "non-binding" chairman's statement that led to the imposition of sanctions. He said such "illegal and foul acts" could not be justified.

Since the election of President Barack Obama, who had voiced his desire for direct dialogue with North Korea, the North refrained from attacking the U.S. administration directly while continuing to send messages seeking Washington-Pyongyang talks. But UN sanctions and a strategy of ignoring the communist country following its long-range rocket launch on April 5 seem to have incensed Pyongyang.