April 16, 2013
SEOUL: North Korea said Tuesday it would not agree to a "humiliating" dialogue with the United States and that talks were only possible if Washington abandoned its "hostile" policy and nuclear threats.
April 16, 2013
SEOUL: North Korea said Tuesday it would not agree to a "humiliating" dialogue with the United States and that talks were only possible if Washington abandoned its "hostile" policy and nuclear threats.
A North Korean military officer plays a game called "Time Crisis" with his son at an amusement park in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Tuesday.
"We do not oppose dialogue but cannot sit face-to-face at the humiliating dialogue table with the other party who is wielding a nuclear stick," a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement issued on state media.
"As long as the US sticks to its hostile policy and nuclear blackmailing against (North Korea), sincere dialogue can be held only after (the North) prepares its nuclear deterrent fully to thwart a US threat of nuclear war."
The statement came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up a Northeast Asian tour aimed at defusing soaring military tensions on the Korean peninsula and getting China to help rein in a belligerent Pyongyang.
Kerry said in Tokyo that Washington was ready to talk to North Korea but that Pyongyang had to take "meaningful steps" to honor its international commitments.
"The United States remains open to authentic and credible negotiations on denuclearization, but the burden is on Pyongyang," he said.
The North's spokesman said recent overtures by senior US officials were a "cunning plot" to avoid responsibility for raising tensions on the Korean peninsula and were only aimed at removing North Korea's nuclear weapons.
Courtesy: AFP
