 North Korea on Monday warned it will "go its own way if the U.S. is not yet ready to sit down" for dialogue about the North Korean nuclear issue. A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman made the remarks to the official KCNA news agency. "As we magnanimously clarified our position that it is possible to hold multilateral talks including the six-party talks depending on talks with the U.S., now is the U.S.' turn to make a decision."
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A South Korean security official said the remarks sound like blackmail, warning of some kind of military action "including increasing its nuclear capability" unless the U.S. jumps into talks. But he said the substance was a "rehash" of previous statements.
| Blackmail? Oh lawzy, the Norks? |
In a recent meeting held between Ri Gun, the chief of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's American affairs bureau, and Sung Kim, the chief U.S. delegate to the six-party talks, the spokesman complained "no discussion" took place "on any substantial issue concerning the bilateral dialogue."
He claimed the North suffered huge economic losses in the process of talks to solve its nuclear issue, as the promise to supply a light-water reactor came to naught. This is being read as a broad hint that the North wants more economic support as a reward for returning to the six-party talks.
The spokesman already drew lines for future talks by saying a Sept. 19, 2005 statement of principles was a "dead document," because the U.S. brought North Korea's "satellite launch" -- widely understood to have been a long-range missile test -- to the UN Security Council and invoked sanctions.
The 2005 statement stipulates a stage-by-stage dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons on the "action-for-action" principle.
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