N.Korea Vows Will Never Dismantle Nuclear Arms

[oldhat]

http://tinyurl.com/6xn8f

By Jack Kim and Martin Nesirky

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea will never dismantle its nuclear arsenal and will not resume talks on its atomic programs unless the United States drops its "hostile" policy, the North's official KCNA news agency said on Saturday.

In a rare commentary that carries considerable weight, KCNA said disclosures about unsanctioned nuclear experiments in South Korea in 2000 and 1982 showed Washington applied double standards, criticizing the North but understanding the South.

"It is self-evident that the resumption of the talks can no longer be discussed unless the U.S. drops its hostile policy based on double standards toward the DPRK and that the latter can never dismantle its nuclear deterrent force," said KCNA.

The North's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

A commentary from KCNA carries an official imprimatur but also allows Pyongyang the ambiguity to offer a different interpretation through diplomatic channels.

The United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia have been seeking at so far fruitless six-party talks to persuade North Korea to give up its atomic ambitions completely in exchange for security guarantees and energy aid.

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BBC article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3668690.stm

N Korea rules out nuclear freeze

North Korean nuclear facilities have been the focus of talks

North Korea has said it can "never dismantle" its nuclear arsenal while US policy towards it remains hostile.

Pyongyang also accused the US of "double standards", saying it had aided nuclear experiments by South Korea.

North Korea suspended talks aimed at nuclear disarmament earlier this month after the disclosure that South Korea had secretly violated nuclear accords.

The US, Japan, China, Russia and South Korea have been negotiating with North Korea to reduce its nuclear capability.


Shock disclosure

South Korea has said its efforts to extract plutonium and enrich uranium were undertaken purely for civilian purposes.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN's atomic agency, meanwhile praised Seoul for co-operating with an inquiry into its nuclear experiments.

A UN team is to arrive in Seoul on Sunday to scrutinise its nuclear disclosures.

South Korea shocked observers on 2 September by admitting its scientists had taken part in small experiments to yield materials that could be used in processes leading towards building nuclear weapons.

Little progress

The statement by North Korean news agency, KCNA, reiterated a refusal to continue disarmament talks and accused the US of stoking an arms race in the region.

"South Korea's clandestine nuclear experiments go to prove that the US double standards are a fundamental factor of the nuclear proliferation," it said.

Talks could not be resumed, the agency said, "unless the US drops its hostile policy based on double standards towards ."

Disarming Pyongyang's "nuclear deterrent force" was also out of the question, KCNA said.

Long-running talks aimed at encouraging North Korea to surrender some of its nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and guarantees of security have made little progress so far.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. ok ok they will never dismantle

their nuclear arsenal... you mean to tell us they just admited to the world that the shitake mushroom (courtesy of Randi Rhodes) was not a cooking accident?

READ between the lines folks, what they just told all of you doubters is... WE HAVE WORKING NUKES.

[ursacorwin]

2. my thoughts exactly

but then again, the info i got on the blast was enough to convince me that the test was just that- a warning/admission that they are armed and ready for whatever nonsense our fine neocons prod them into. great. thanks bush, for igniting yet another region of the world into really scary threat levels.

[justgamma]

3. After Shrub annouced to the world

that he was going after them, why the heck would they give them up. They know we only attack unarmed countries.