North Korea said yesterday any expectation it might follow Libya in renouncing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was a "delusion," according to a news report.
"Middle-East events like Libya's renouncing of WMD and the US invasion of Iraq will not have any affect on North Korea," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said. "While advertising the events in some Middle-East countries, the United States is in a delusion that such a result may be replayed on the Korean Peninsula."
The unnamed spokesman's comments were carried by North Korea's official KCNA news agency, which was monitored by South Korea's national Yonhap news agency.
"Events in the Middle-East countries are issues involving the people of the United States and those countries," it said. "Expecting a change in our position is like expecting rain from a clear sky."
Last month Libya said it was giving up its weapons of mass destruction after months of secret talks with the US and Britain. It said it hoped the concession would prompt the US to lift sanctions against the country, and Washington said it hoped other countries would follow Libya's example.
North Korea is under similar international pressure to end its nuclear weapons development.
Earlier this week, North Korea said it would freeze its nuclear programs in exchange for US aid and being delisted from Washington's roster of terrorism sponsoring nations.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has called the offer a "positive step forward" and that prospects for resuming negotiations had improved. South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan said the offer would help "create atmosphere" to open a fresh round of talks on ending tensions over the nuclear standoff.
For months, the US, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas have been scrambling to arrange a new round of six-nation talks on the nuclear crisis. The first round last August in Beijing ended without much progress.
Russian and South Korean officials have said the talks are unlikely to take place this month.
Washington has rejected the North's proposals in the past, saying it wants North Korea to verifiably begin dismantling its nuclear weapons programs before it delivers any concessions.
The North Korean nuclear crisis flared in October 2002 when US officials accused North Korea of running a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 deal in which North Korea is obliged to freeze its nuclear facilities. Washington and its allies cut off free oil shipments, also part of the 1994 accord.
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