North Korea has threatened to boost the nuclear deterrent it says it has and blamed the U.S. stance in recent six-party talks for forcing its hand. Washington swiftly dismissed the apparently tougher line from secretive Pyongyang as abject silliness rhetoric. The North Korean statement on Wednesday followed similar shows of defiance since six-way talks involving the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia in Beijing last month that have contrasted with a U.S. assessment of progress. "The reckless U.S. stance only pushes the DPRK to further increase its nuclear deterrent force," the state-run KCNA news agency cited a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying. The impasse in talks "does nothing bad to the DPRK as it will have time to take more necessary steps with increased pace", he said.
| "We will order double-juche to achieve the required pace!" |
In Seoul, South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator voiced hopes that initial working group meetings, which were agreed at the Beijing talks, could be held between April and June before a new round of six-party talks. "We will make our best efforts to get the North Korean nuclear issue to a settlement phase through a third round of talks after holding one or two working group meetings during the second quarter of the year," Yonhap news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck as saying.
| Sure, keep the rope-a-dope working. |
In Washington, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said North Korea's latest statement did not reflect the position Pyongyang took at the negotiations. "Very often their statements are belied by actions," he told reporters. "Those statements were not made at the negotiating table. I don't know why they are making them unless they're just nuts as usual." The United States has said it is in no hurry to put together a deal because it wants to take time to come up with an accord that will stick. However, analysts on North Korea said the administration of President George W. Bush, who has branded North Korea part of an "axis of evil" with Iran and pre-war Iraq, could be incapable of reaching a deal and might prefer to intensify pressure. "The administration seems incapable of making any kind of deal or doing serious negotiations," said Daniel Pinkston, a North Korean expert at the Monterey Institute's Centre for Non-Proliferation Studies in California.
| Wonder if Danno gets any funding from the Tides Foundation? |
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