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North Korea Ready for War, Peace
North Korea is prepared for war against the United States but is also open to returning to negotiations over its nuclear program, Pyongyang’s ambassador to Thailand said yesterday (see GSN, March 24). “We are ready to talk peace and we are ready for war with the Americans,” Ambassador O Song Chol told the Thai newspaper The Nation. Talks will only resume when the United States apologizes for naming North Korea an “outpost of tyranny” and ends its hostile policy toward Pyongyang, Chol said. Chol said referring North Korea to the U.N. Security Council would be akin to a declaration of war, according to the Associated Press. The envoy also rejected reports that China was increasing pressure on North Korea to rejoin the six-party talks. Beijing has only offered “some suggestions,” he said (Associated Press/Canada.com, March 24). South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said there is no deadline for North Korea to return to the talks, Reuters reported. “[U.S.] President [George W.] Bush said there was no deadline, and we haven’t set a deadline,” Ban said. He added, though, “We have waited considerably, because June would be one year (from the last round).” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent reference to North Korea as “a sovereign state” indicates the United States sees Pyongyang as an equal in the negotiations that also involve China, Japan, Russia and South Korea, Ban told the Yonhap news agency. “North Korea keeps talking about not getting treated right at the six-party talks, so (Rice) was noting a willingness to have dialogue as equals,” Ban said (Reuters/Yahoo!News, March 24).
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