The U.S. State Department on Tuesday said efforts to improve the living conditions of North Koreans and dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program are separate issues.
| We're not supposed to be talking about 'living conditions', we're supposed to be talking about concentration labor camps, summary execution and wholesale denial of basic human rights. Those are the things you're supposed to point out at every press conference, Mr. Duguid ... |
"If helping improve the lives of ordinary North Koreans is a problem, if it's an aggravation, I don't understand it. I don't see it that way," acting deputy Department spokesman Gordon Duguid told reporters. "The efforts on trying to achieve a non-nuclear North Korea should not in any way be connected with efforts to improve the lives of ordinary North Koreans. But again, there are two separate issues here."
| Denuclearization and human rights go hand in hand. |
"I think we need to try and continue to help the people of North Korea while we also continue to try and denuclearize the Korean Peninsula," he added.
Meanwhile, Joel S. Wit, a former State Department official who was involved in Washington-Pyongyang negotiations, said in a report that North Korea could increase its arsenal to between 14 and 19 nuclear weapons by 2019 if six-party denuclearization talks fail. |