LOC11:08
08:08 GMT
TOKYO, Oct 30 (KUNA) -- North Korea said Wednesday that its nuclear weapons
program is not a bargaining tool and slammed South Korean policymakers for
challenging the country's sovereign right to defend itself from outside
aggression, Seoul's Yonhap News Agency reported.
In an article carried by the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the ruling
Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), Pyongyang said if it did not possess nuclear
weapons there would be no peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and that
the fate of the Korean people would be placed in jeopardy.
"The build-up of nuclear deterrence has proven to be a wise choice," the
state-run newspaper claimed.
The North has detonated three nuclear devices since 2006, with the latest
test being carried out on February 12.
The paper, which effectively represents the views of the North Korean
leadership, also blasted South Korea's Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae for calling on Pyongyang to give up its
nuclear ambitions.
"Remarks by Yun and Ryoo are direct challenges to the country's dignity and
independence," the article monitored by Yonhap said, adding that the call for
the North to denuclearize is nothing more than foolish wishful thinking."
The latest verbal assault comes after the Foreign Minister said in a United
Nations event, earlier this month, that the North's strategy of simultaneously
building up its economy and its nuclear force is a direct affront to the
authority of the international organization. The Unification
Minister, meanwhile, said that the North must first give up its nuclear
weapons in order for the inter-Korean factory park in Kaesong to "mature" and
contribute to better inter-Korean relations. (end)
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KUNA 301108 Oct 13NNNN