North Korea said yesterday the US had adopted a harder line at this week's six-way nuclear talks and had demanded Pyongyang "drop its gun first".
A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman told the North's official KCNA news agency the Beijing talks were a trick aimed at disarming the communist state and implied Pyongyang had no interest in more talks, despite agreement in China to meet again.
The spokesman said the US delegation had hardened its stance by saying during the three-day talks it would only negotiate fully with North Korea once the North had scrapped its nuclear development program.
"This means the US asking the DPRK to drop its gun first, saying it would not open fire, when both sides are levelling guns at each other," it said, referring to the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"How can the DPRK trust the US and drop its gun? Even a child would not be taken in by such a trick."
It said the talks -- also attended by South Korea, Japan, Russia and China -- had been reduced to an "armchair argument" that convinced the North Washington did not intend to change.
"This made it impossible for the DPRK to have any interest or expectation for the talks as they are not beneficial to it," KCNA quoted the spokesman as saying in its English-language version.
The earlier Korean-language text said: "We are not interested at all in this kind of talks."
It was not clear whether the spokesman's comments were a formal change in policy from Friday's agreement to talk again or part of Pyongyang's rhetorical repertoire. The English-language version was ambiguous enough to refer to this week's talks rather than future meetings.
Earlier, an unidentified North Korean delegate to the talks made similar remarks to reporters at Beijing airport. He said he saw no need for further discussions.
But analysts dismissed the delegate's comments as posturing by the North, which typically steps up its rhetoric or makes conflicting statements to try to confuse its opponents or win concessions. The same could be true of the ministry remarks.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman's comments on increasing North Korea's nuclear deterrent force were somewhat clearer, but did not state directly that the North already has nuclear weapons, as the US suspects.
A commentary in the official newspaper Minju Joson said every country had a right to defend itself and went a step further than the ministry by saying the North already has a nuclear force.
"The DPRK's nuclear deterrent force is a means for self-defense which it was compelled to build to cope with the situation in which the sovereignty of the country was seriously infringed upon due to the evermore undisguised US moves to stifle it with nukes," the newspaper said.
Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, the head of the US delegation, told reporters the talks had been productive but there was a long way to go before the crisis was defused.Also See Story:
China takes its diplomacy upstage at N Korea talks
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS