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North Korea Says Nuclear Weapons Efforts to Increase in Response to Threat of U.S. Strike
North Korea said today that it would increase its efforts to produce nuclear weapons to counter a potential U.S. nuclear attack, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 10). “The U.S. feverish development of smaller nukes of new types and modernization of nuclear weapons production bases targeted against the D.P.R.K. convinces the latter once again that its possession and increase of nuclear deterrent is an entirely just self-defensive measure,” the official Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary. According to the article, Pyongyang, “a target of the U.S. pre-emptive nuclear attack, cannot but keep the sharpest vigilance against its spurred preparations to put its doctrine of this attack into practice” (Agence France-Presse/Forbes.com, March 13). Meanwhile, the Yonhap News Agency reported that the United States on Friday refused bilateral negotiations with North Korea on alleged illegal financial activities (see GSN, March 9). “U.S. regulatory action and law enforcement measures to protect our financial institutions from abuse are not subject to negotiation,” the State Department said in a statement. “The U.S. will continue to regulate its financial system as it deems appropriate in accordance with U.S. law.” "However, we would note that the joint statement of principles, agreed in the fourth round of six-party talks last September, contemplates in the context of denuclearization, discussion of a broad range of issues, including trade and investment cooperation and steps towards normalization,” the statement said (Yonhap News Agency, March 11). Elsewhere, Chinese and South Korean officials discussed how to overcome the stalemate in the six-party nuclear talk, the Associated Press reported Saturday. “A quick resumption of talks is important but what is more important is to make substantial progress when the talks are resumed,” said lead South Korean nuclear Chun Young-woo, following discussions with Chinese nuclear negotiator Wu Dawei. The North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun in a commentary called for the United States to permit inspections of U.S. nuclear weapons allegedly deployed in South Korea. It also said the United States should remove its weapons and troops from the South as a way to solve the nuclear crisis (Associated Press, March 11).
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