International   

North Korea defiant on denuclearisation

PYONGYANG: The key point of the denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula is that the related parties, including Washington, should fulfil their obligations under the agreements of six-party talks, said the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday.

It was the DPRK’s first official response to the denuclearisation issue after Pyongyang missed a year-end deadline to make a full and complete declaration on its nuclear programme. “We [DPRK] have suspended the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and started the disablement process under the agreement of six-party talks,” said the DPRK Cabinet newspaper Minju Jonson.

Noting some related parties failed to “fulfil their relevant obligations under the principle of action to action,” the newspaper said, “so we have to take the measures to adjust the speed of disablement process.”

It said the related parties had to follow the principle of action to action in the process, warning “anyone who didn’t fulfil the obligation should take the responsibility.”

The newspaper did not elaborate how the other parties did not meet their obligations.

The six-party talks, initiated in 2003, involved China, the DPRK, the U.S., the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan.

According to a six-party talks joint document released in Beijing on October 3, 2006, the DPRK agreed to disable all the existing nuclear facilities and provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programmes by the end of 2007.

The document said the disablement of the five-megawatt Experimental Reactor, the Reprocessing Plant (Radiochemical Laboratory) and the Nuclear Fuel Rod Fabrication Facility in Yongbyon would be completed by December 31, 2007. — Xinhua

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Denies LTTE link, sues Malaysia
Norway’s role will be re-defined, says Colombo
A question put to rest
North Korea defiant on denuclearisation
Wrong turn
Biofuels may be worse than coal and oil: experts
Egger jailed in U.K.
Man charged for misleading police

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu