North Korea to retain nuclear deterrent to contest U.S. threats

North Korea on Wednesday expressed that it intends to retain its nuclear deterrent as long as the United States continue its threats towards the communist nation, the Yonhap news agency reported.

The remark was made by Vice Foreign Minister Pak Kil-yon during a speech at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly at the body's headquarters in New York. Pak further claimed that the North Korean nuclear weapons are only for self-defense not for attacking other nations.

"As long as the U.S. nuclear aircraft carriers sail around the seas of our country, our nuclear deterrent can never be abandoned, but should be strengthened further. This is the lesson we have drawn," Pak added.

However, the Vice Foreign Minister said that the communist country is willing to join the international efforts for nuclear non-proliferation and safe management of nuclear material as the same as with other countries with nuclear deterrents.

Pak highlighted in a more moderate tone that North Korea is a responsible nuclear weapon state and supports not only the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula (North and South) but the denuclearization of the whole world as well.

Despite Pak's remarks, the United States and other nations refuse to recognize North Korea, which withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003, as a nuclear weapons state.

In 2006 and then again in 2009, the UN Security Council enacted two rounds of sanctions against North Korea for the detonation of nuclear devices and urged it to resume disarmament talks with the United States, China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea. International negotiations to end North Korea's nuclear ambitions have not resumed since December 2008 due to a boycott by the government led by Kim Jong-il. The possibility of resuming the disarmament talks was also damaged by the ship sinking incident last March.

Regarding this issue, Pak categorically denied that his country had anything to do with the violent sinking of a South Korean ship that took the life of 46 sailors. He also rejected the demands from South Korea to take responsibility for the deadly attack.

Source: Bnonews.com