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STP02 - 20010807 - ST.PETERSBURG, RUSSIAN FEDERATION : (FILES) North Korean leader Kim Jong-il after laying a wreath at the Piskaryovskoye cemetery, paying solemn homage to hundreds of thousands of people who died during the WWII siege of St.Petersburg, 07 August, 2001. North Korea said Tuesday, 07 January 2003, that the United States had embarked on a strategy of using sanctions to isolate Pyongyang and this represented a declaration of war. 'Sanctions mean a war and the war knows no mercy. The US should opt for dialogue with the DPRK (North Korea), not for war, clearly aware that it will have to pay a very high price for such reckless acts', the official Korean Central News Agency said. EPA POOL EPA FILES / ANATOLY MALTSEV