DPRK blasts U.S. nuclear policy
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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) blasted the new U.S. nuclear policy on Friday, saying it remains "hostile," and vowed to increase its nuclear arsenal, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
In its "Nuclear Posture Review" issued Tuesday, the Obama administration renounced the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states, but not including those that violate and quit the "Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons," such as the DPRK and Iran.
"This proves that the present U.S. policy toward the DPRK is nothing different from the hostile policy pursued by the Bush administration," and the DPRK is a "target of preemptive nuclear strike", the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said the DPRK develops nuclear weapons for the purpose of "deterring the U.S. attack and defending its sovereignty and right to existence." The DPRK has so far "sincerely implemented its international obligation as a responsible nuclear weapons state," the ministry added.
The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the "invariable goal" of the DPRK, the statement said. What is most urgent for the U.S. is to "roll back its hostile policy toward the DPRK in practice, not with empty talk, and take a confidence-building measure," it said.
"As long as the U.S. nuclear threat persists, the DPRK will increase and update various types of nuclear weapons as its deterrent in such a manner as it deems necessary in the days ahead ... The DPRK has the reason, qualifications and capability to do this," the statement said.
The DPRK also said the U.S. nuclear policy "chilled the hard-won atmosphere for the resumption" of stalled six-nation talks. The talks, involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S., were last held in late 2008.
