North Korea Makes Nuclear Threat

North Korea said yesterday that it still faces “hostile policy” from the United States, forcing the Stalinist regime to augment its “nuclear armed force,” Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 28).

Pyongyang has regularly used hyperbolic language during its nuclear standoff with the United States and other nations.  However, it had seemingly been more restrained as progress was made in resolving the matter.

“What is crucial here is that the U.S. should completely abandon its hostile policy,” according to a commentary from the official Minju Joson newspaper.  “But the U.S. is not yet prepared to make a strategic decision.

“As we have stressed several times, our nuclear armed force is a self-defensive measure to protect the security of our country and people against maneuvers by hostile forces to stifle the D.P.R.K.,” it added.  “Therefore, the stronger U.S. military threats and schemes to invade us are, the more our republic will keep strengthening its powerful self-defensive deterrence.  That is our right.”

North Korea agreed last year to give up its nuclear efforts in exchange for a host of concessions from the other nations in the six-party talks — China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.  After an extended delay this year, Pyongyang handed over an accounting of its nuclear activities and holdings required by the deal. 

Negotiators are now trying to develop a plan to verify the information in the declaration so they can move toward full denuclearization of North Korea.  They hope that the disablement of key facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear complex — part of the second stage of the deal — will be completed before Nov. 1.

The Bush administration has lifted some economic sanctions from Pyongyang and moved to take the regime off the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.  However, North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun complained last week that the United States had not fully met its obligations under the 2007 agreement (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, July 29).

South Korea’s lead negotiator at the six-nation talks, Kim Sook, said yesterday that there are significant obstacles to fully divesting North Korea of its nuclear arsenal, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

“The other five nations called for North Korea to get rid of all of its nuclear weapons and programs in the third and last stage” of denuclearization,” he said.  “But North Korea claimed that one or two preliminary stages are needed before doing so.”

Asked for more detail, Kim said that North Korea wanted to keep the focus on the dismantlement of facilities at Yongbyon.

Washington wants to have procedures for verification finished by Aug. 11 in order to meet a 45-day deadline set late last month.  Pyongyang has made no comment after receiving a tentative version of the verification plan.

North Korea is likely to remain on the terrorism list until it signs off on verification procedures, Kim said.

“I think it would be difficult for the delisting to go into effect unless the U.S. receives the North’s approval and has a verification protocol” by the 45-day deadline, he said (Yonhap News Agency, July 29).

Hard-line elements in Pyongyang object to certain verification proposals, including giving investigators full access to North Korean nuclear sites and allowing sampling of nuclear materials, Kyodo News reported today (Kyodo News, July 30).

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