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N. Korea wants to keep nuclear weapons as "deterrence"

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: North Korea vowed to retain its nuclear weapons, even as the United States and South Korea held urgent telephonic consultations on Saturday to prepare the ground for the six-party talks that would start in Beijing on Monday after a gap of nearly 13 months.

The prospective talks, described as the second phase of the fifth round of the process, will be the first opportunity for all the six participants to discuss the nuclear-weapon test that Pyongyang carried out on October 9. The six parties are the U.S., the two Koreas, China as the host, Japan, and Russia. The broad framework of the six-party process covers all aspects of the proposed denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

North Korea's Vice-Foreign Minister and chief delegate, Kim Kye-gwan said, on his arrival in Beijing on Saturday, that "as long as deterrent powers are needed, there is no reason for our country to give up its nuclear weapons."

Hostile U.S. policy

Mr. Kim portrayed Pyongyang's nuclear weapons as its "deterrent capability" against the "hostile policy" of the U.S. Pyongyang had earlier insisted that the U.S. adopt a policy of "peaceful coexistence" towards the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

On a parallel track, South Korea indicated that its Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to each other over the phone and agreed to cooperate "closely" to resolve this nuclear crisis through "diplomacy."

He insisted that the U.S. lift the financial sanctions it had imposed on the DPRK over a year ago. Holding out this demand as a "precondition" for progress, he said the DPRK would be willing to discuss the relevant issues only on this basis.

The U.S. has often said the financial sanctions in question had nothing to do with North Korea's nuclear-weapons issue. Regional diplomats noted that Mr. Kim's latest formulation about "deterrence" and his suggestion that the U.S. adopt a policy of "peaceful coexistence" can imply that the DPRK, for now, is not insisting on keeping its nuclear weapons for ever.

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