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N. Korea rules out compromise

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: North Korea on Sunday dropped a strong hint about its intention to rule out any compromise over the nuclear issue. The state news agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) quoted from an editorial carried by the official outlet of the ruling Workers Party in this regard.

The DPRK's stand assumes importance in the context of reports that its leader Kim Jong-il had assured Chinese State Councillor and Special Envoy Tang Jiaxuan in Pyongyang a few days ago that it would not conduct any follow-up nuclear-weapon tests. The DPRK tested the atom bomb on October 9, and the Security Council imposed arms-related and financial sanctions on Pyongyang.

The DPRK said in the editorial "to yield to the imperialists and opt for compromising with them would lead the people to ruin." It was emphasised that "the present standoff between the DPRK and the U.S. represents the most serious and fiercest confrontation between the progressive and the reactionary [state] and between peace forces and aggression forces."

"The U.S. imperialists' aggression and war moves" were denounced as the "biggest stumbling block to peace" on the Korean peninsula.

Echoing a statement by the DPRK's Foreign Ministry in response to the sanctions, Pyongyang threatened to mete out "merciless punishment" to the U.S. if it were to invade the DPRK.

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