The Hindu : International : Nuclear arms to face U.S. threat, says N. Korea

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 11, 2005

International

International

Nuclear arms to face U.S. threat, says N. Korea

By P. S. Suryanarayana

GENERATING HEAT: North Korea's spent nuclear fuel rods, kept in a cooling pond, are seen at the nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, North Korea, in this file photo released by the Yonhap News Agency. — AP

SINGAPORE, FEB. 10. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) today announced its open-ended withdrawal from the stalled six-party talks on its nuclear-weapons programme.

Significantly, Pyongyang has also affirmed, in the most categorical terms yet, that it has "manufactured nukes" to face Washington's "ever-more undisguised policy to isolate and stifle the DPRK."

Announcing the decision on the multilateral parleys, which are being hosted by China, the DPRK explicitly cited its threat perceptions arising out of the statements by the U.S. President, George W. Bush, and his colleagues.

The U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is reported to have said at Luxembourg that North Korea's move might only "deepen" its "isolation" and that Washington must consult the other participants on this development.

Possible scenario

The other participants in the dialogue are South Korea, Japan and Russia. So far, three rounds have been held, launched in August 2003, and there has so far been no agreement on scheduling the fourth round that was originally proposed for last September.

Though no definitive progress has been achieved so far, several possible scenarios for a final solution emerged during the third round, on the basis of a general consensus on the need for a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) of the North Korean nuclear-weapons programme.

Emphasis

Pyongyang has always insisted on suitable security assurances, while some participants have laid emphasis on keeping the entire Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons.

As monitored today in Seoul, a traditional listening post in respect of North Korea, the DPRK Foreign Ministry said: "We have wanted the six-way talks but we are compelled to suspend our participation in the talks for an indefinite period until we have recognised that there is justification for us to attend the talks and [until] there are ample conditions and an atmosphere to expect positive results from the talks."

Other key elements of Pyongyang's new statement related to its perceptions that the U.S had now "disclosed its attempt to topple the political system in the DPRK at any cost" and that Washington was "threatening" to use "the nuclear stick" in pursuit of this objective.

The statement said: "The [second] Bush administration [has] termed the DPRK, its dialogue partner, an `outpost of tyranny.'" Rejecting this "hostile policy," Pyongyang said such an attitude had compelled it to "bolster its nuclear weapons arsenal".

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