Backing away from earlier demands for a nonaggression pact with the United States, North Korea yesterday asserted the need for a “tremendous military deterrent force powerful enough to decisively beat back an attack supported by ultra-modern weapons.”

A Foreign Ministry statement said, “Neither international public opinion nor the U.N. charter could prevent the U.S. from mounting an attack on Iraq.  This suggests that even the signing of a nonaggression treaty with the U.S. would not help avert a war.”

The statement also condemned a planned Wednesday meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss Pyongyang’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The statement referred to Security Council actions as a “prelude to war” and said North Korea would not recognize any resolution passed by the Security Council.

“The U.S. is seriously mistaken if it thinks that the D.P.R.K. will accept the demand for disarming while watching one of three countries the U.S. listed as part of an ‘axis of evil’ already subject to the barbarous military attack,” the spokesman said (Korean Central News Agency, April 7).

North Korea, meanwhile, has cut off contact with Seoul regarding Cabinet-level meetings scheduled for this week.

“We can say that the talks will not be held as scheduled,” said a South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman.  “We are not sure whether North Korea wants to cancel them or postpone them.  So we may know more about that after contacting the North Korean side,” he added.

This week’s discussions were to focus on the nuclear crisis.  North Korea cancelled talks last month on economic and maritime issues, Agence France-Presse reported (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo.com, April 7).

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