The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Monday urged the United States to alter its policy toward the country in order to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
"The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula depends on whether or not the U.S. changes its policy towards Korea," said Pak Kil Yon, the DPRK's vice minister of foreign affairs, in an address at a debate of the General Assembly.
"In order to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. administration must discard old concept of confrontation and show the 'change' in practice, as it recently stated on several occasions," he said.
"We never denied the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the rest of the world," he said. "We initiated the denuclearization of Northeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula and advanced the proposal on replacing the Armistice Agreement with a peace agreement and the proposal of adopting the DPRK-U.S. non-aggression treaty."
"However, our efforts has not received due response from the United States," he said. "The U.S. considers the Korean issue only in the light of its Asian strategy and does not want to see the entire Korean Peninsula denuclearized. Thus, it resulted in increased nuclear threats against the DPRK."
"The arbitrariness of the U.S. finds its expression in arguing that the DPRK must not launch a peaceful satellite," he said. "The UNSC (UN Security Council) is being abused by this arbitrariness."
"We came to the conclusion that so long as the U.S. does not change its nuclear policy at present time, we have no other option but to rely on our dependable nuclear possession to ensure nuclear balance of the region, if we are to preserve peace and stability in Northeast Asia."
"We do not pursue a nuclear arms race," he said. "The mission of our nuclear weapon is to deter a war. We will only possess nuclear deterrent to such an extent as to deter military attack and its threat against our country."
"The deterrence will be directly proportional to the threat on the Korean peninsula, as in Europe and elsewhere," he said.
"The DPRK, while in possession of nuclear weapons, will act in a responsible manner in management, use and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons as well as in nuclear disarmament," he said.
"'Sanctions' are now imposed on us in the name of (the) United Nations (UN) on the grounds that we possessed nuclear deterrent," he said. "It may be recalled that the UN was born in the country which produced the first nuclear weapon and all five permanent member states of the UNSC (UN Security Council) are nuclear weapons."
"Had these countries shown sincerely in nuclear disarmament long time ago and refrained from arbitrary act of selectively taking an issue with the peaceful satellite launch of other country, the nuclear-related situation of the world may have evolved differently," he said.
"The United Nations Security Council has become more arrogant, resulting in further inequality and prevalent double standards in international relations," he said.
"It is the stand of the DPRK government to react to the dialogue with a dialogue and respond to the 'sanctions' by strengthening nuclear deterrence," he said. "If the U.S. comes to dialogue with 'sanctions', we will also participate in the dialogue with bolstered nuclear deterrence."
(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2009)
