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N Korea backs nuclear drive
EFL & FU:The Supreme Peopleâs Assembly agreed with a foreign ministry statement at the weekend that Pyongyang had no other option but to increase its nuclear deterrent force, according to the official KCNA news agency. The parliament also "considered as just" the governmentâs announcement that it had no further interest in talks on its nuclear programme, the agency said. Guess they didnât get the memo from China. Also on Wednesday, the North Korean parliament re-elected the head of state, Kim Jong-il, to the key post of chief of defence. Just squeaked through with 100% of the vote. The 687-member legislative body said the outcome of the Beijing talks last week proved that Washington did not want to co-exist peacefully with Pyongyang. The governmentâs call for a nuclear build-up was therefore "a just self-defensive means to repel the US pre-emptive nuclear attacks," KCNA said. North Koreaâs latest comments, while backing the foreign ministryâs statement on Saturday, seem to contradict another statement on Monday - also transmitted via KCNA - which said that Pyongyang still wanted to resolve the nuclear issue through dialogue. "Weâll talk about the fact weâre gonna build nukes." The re-election of Kim Jong-il to North Koreaâs top post, head of the national defence commission, triggered nationwide celebrations on Wednesday, according to the countryâs media. "This is an expression of the absolute support and trust of all the servicemen and the people in him," KCNA said. "Upon hearing the happy news, the entire Korean people - including servicemen, old men and women and children - are coming out of their houses and working sites and dancing with bunches of flowers in their hands," the news agency reported. "Flowers, oh boy, we got lunch!" Posted by: Steve 2003-09-03 |
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