The Hindu : International : North Korea demands nuclear talks on "equal terms"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 01, 2005

International

International

North Korea demands nuclear talks on "equal terms"

SEOUL (SOUTH KOREA), MARCH 31. North Korea said on Thursday the United States should first remove all potential nuclear threats in the region before it would discuss giving up its own nuclear programme, and demanded that it be treated as an equal in disarmament talks now that it has atomic weapons.

``Now that we have become a nuclear power, the six-party talks should be disarmament talks where participants can solve the issue on an equal basis,'' a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

The unidentified spokesman added that the nuclear crisis could no longer be resolved through discussions on a potential ``reward'' in return for ``freezing'' the nuclear programme.

``If the peninsula is to be nuclear-free, it is necessary to clear South Korea of all the nuclear weapons of the U.S. and root out every element that can help South Korea have access to nukes,'' the spokesman said. ``Of course, this should be confirmed through verification.''

The United States has said it has removed all its nuclear arsenal from the Korean Peninsula, and it wasn't clear exactly what the spokesman was referring to.

Enough fissile material

International efforts to resume nuclear talks gained urgency after the North claimed on February 10 that it had already developed nuclear weapons and would boycott the meetings indefinitely. The talks — also involving South Korea, China, Japan and Russia — have been stalled since June.

The North is believed to have reprocessed enough nuclear material to make about a half-dozen bombs, but hasn't performed any known nuclear tests that would confirm the capability.

In Thursday's statement, the North also renewed its criticism of recent joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises as ``preparations for a nuclear war.''

As long as the U.S. nuclear threats persist in the region, the North's atomic weapons will act as a ``basic deterrent that guarantees peace and stability and prevents war on the Korean Peninsula,'' the spokesman said.

``If the six-party talks were to live up to their name there should be discussions on ways to fundamentally do away with the United States' nuclear weapons and threats of a nuclear war from the Korean Peninsula''. In response to the North's latest statement, a senior South Korean official said his Government maintained its goal of working to ensure ``there are no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula.'' — AP

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