Pyongyang says any dialogue must be between nuclear states, 'not one side forcing the other to dismantle weapons'Hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough on the Korean peninsula have dimmed after North Korea dismissed US conditions for talks as "totally unacceptable" and demanded to be recognised as a nuclear state.
After weeks of tension in the region, including North Korean threats of nuclear war, Pyongyang had appeared willing to consider negotiations. But on Tuesday, the state-controlled Rodong Sinmun newspaper rejected the condition that the North must first begin to demonstrate a willingness to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme and suspend missile launches.
"If the DPRK sits at a table with the US it has to be a dialogue between nuclear weapons states, not one side forcing the other to dismantle nuclear weapons," the newspaper said, referring to the North by the abbreviation of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
This month, a White House spokesman said North Korea needed to show it was serious about abandoning its nuclear ambitions for any talks to be meaningful.
North Korea signed a denuclearisation-for-aid deal in 2005 but later backed out. It conducted its third nuclear test in February and says its nuclear arms are a "treasured sword" that it will never give up. February's test triggered new UN sanctions that were answered by more North Korean threats of nuclear strikes against South Korea and the US.
On Tuesday, China's chief of general staff said the possibility of a fourth nuclear test underlined the need for urgent talks between North Korea and other parties in the region.
"We ask all sides to work actively to work on the North Koreans to stop nuclear tests and stop producing nuclear weapons," General Fang Fenghui said in Beijing. "We believe that dialogue should be the right solution." Fang did not indicate whether Beijing believed a test was imminent.
Last Thursday, in a sign that the hostility of recent weeks was easing, North Korea offered the US and South Korea a list of conditions for talks, including the lifting of UN sanctions. The US responded by saying it awaited "clear signals" that North Korea would halt its nuclear weapons activities.
While it has left the door open to dialogue, Washington has said it will not enter into "talks for talks' sake" or reward the regime for toning down threats to start a war or conduct nuclear and missile tests. The US says it wants to put an end to the long-established pattern of responding to North Korean provocations with concessions, only for the regime to renege on agreements and raise tensions again.
The North is thought to have produced enough weapons-grade plutonium for at least six nuclear bombs and has an established uranium-enrichment capability that would give it another route to building weapons of mass destruction. But analysts and intelligence officials say the regime is not yet able to mount a miniaturised nuclear warhead on a missile, despite its recent threats to conduct nuclear strikes.
During a recent visit to the South Korean capital, Seoul, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, urged the North to "move towards a serious negotiation about denuclearising the peninsula".
In comments reported by Kyodo news, the Rodong Sinmun said the US "should understand that a dialogue will begin only when the DPRK's demand for the withdrawal of strategic offensive means in the vicinity of the peninsula aimed at realizing the US world domination strategy is met. The US is sadly mistaken if it calculates it can deceive and mock at the international community and disarm the DPRK with calls for 'dialogue'."
It accused Washington of having the "sinister intention to force the DPRK to dismantle its nuclear programme and make a preemptive nuclear strike at it".
Fears that South Korea's defence minister, Kim Kwan-jin, had been the target of an attempted poisoning turned out to be a false alarm after a white powder found inside a package delivered to his office on Tuesday was found to be flour, Yonhap news agency said.
The ministry initially treated the delivery as an attempted "act of terror" and formed a team to analyse the substance, which was reportedly accompanied by a threatening letter, and trace the sender.
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