North Korea vows to bolster nuclear force as deterrent

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has vowed to bolster its nuclear force unless the United States drops its “hostile policy” toward the reclusive communist nation, adding that its atomic program could not be traded for economic aid.

Pyongyang also designated eight new naval firing zones near its eastern and western sea borders with South Korea in a move that could raise tensions.

North Korea quit the disarmament-for-aid negotiations and conducted a second nuclear test last year, drawing tightened U.N. sanctions. North Korea has demanded a lifting of the sanctions and peace talks formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War before it returns to the negotiating table.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency on Saturday urged the U.S. to make a political decision to establish peace on the peninsula and change what it calls a policy to stifle the North.

The North’s “nuclear deterrent for self-defense will remain as ever and grow more powerful … as long as the U.S. nuclear threat and hostile policy persist,” KCNA said Friday in a dispatch from Pyongyang.

The North’s “dismantlement of its nuclear weapons can never happen … unless the hostile policy towards the (North) is rolled back and the nuclear threat to it removed.”

North Korea claims it was compelled to develop atomic bombs to cope with U.S. nuclear threats. The U.S., which denies making any such threats against the North, has called on North Korea to return to the disarmament talks that also involve China, South Korea, Russia and Japan.

KCNA’s comments came amid diplomatic efforts to jump-start the stalled disarmament talks.

North Korean envoy Kim Kye Gwan plans to attend a seminar in San Francisco before heading to New York to meet with Washington’s lead nuclear negotiator Sung Kim either late this month or next month, the South Korean cable news network YTN reported Friday, citing an unidentified source in Beijing.

In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley on Friday denied the report and reiterated that the U.S. has no current plans to meet with North Koreans officials.

Officials from the U.S. and North Korea last met one-on-one in December, when President Barack Obama’s special envoy, Stephen Bosworth, visited Pyongyang.

Bosworth is considering visiting China next month for talks on how to resume the disarmament talks as part of a trip that could also take him to South Korea and Japan, Japan’s Kyodo News agency reported Friday, citing unidentified U.S. government sources.

The newly designated “naval firing zones” are effective Saturday through Monday, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday. The JCS, however, said there was no immediate signs of particular movement of North Korean troops.

Last month, North Korea fired artillery shells near its disputed western sea border, prompting the South Koreans to fire warning shots. No injuries or damage were reported.

The North has since deployed dozens of multiple rocket launchers in major bases along its west coast, Yonhap news agency reported, citing a Defense Ministry report submitted to the legislature.

Story Continues →