North Korea yesterday ruled out resuming dialogue with the “gangster-like” US, and vowed to respond to any US aggression with nuclear strikes and cyberwarfare.
The bellicose statement from the country’s top military body, the National Defense Commission, came after reported moves by Washington and Pyongyang to revive long-stalled six-nation talks on denuclearization.
It also preceded the start early next month of annual joint US-South Korea military exercises that always presage a sharp spike in military tensions and rhetoric on the divided peninsula.
Photo: AFP
The commission’s statement was an apparent reaction to remarks US President Barack Obama made regarding the eventual collapse of the regime in North Korea, which Obama called the “most cut-off nation on Earth.”
The statement, which labeled the Obama administration a mud-slinging “cesspool,” said the president’s comments amounted to a threat to engineer the country’s downfall.
“Since the gangster-like US imperialists are blaring that they will ‘bring down’ the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] ... the army and people of the DPRK cannot but officially notify the Obama administration ... that the DPRK has neither need nor willingness to sit at negotiating table with the US any longer,” the statement said.
The statement, carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency and titled “US imperialists will face final doom,” said North Korea would respond to any US military aggression in kind — whether with by conventional, nuclear or cyberwarfare means.
Obama slapped sanctions on North Korea last month following the hacking of Hollywood studio Sony Pictures’ computer network.
US officials blamed the attack on Pyongyang and described it as the most damaging commercial hack in US history.
North Korea, which is known to have built up a formidable cyberwarfare unit, has officially denied any involvement.
The Washington Post reported on Monday that US and North Korean nuclear envoys had been secretly discussing the idea of “talks about talks,” but had been unable to agree on practical arrangements.
US Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the US had not changed its position of requiring the North to take tangible steps toward denuclearization before any meaningful dialogue could be held.
North Korea carried out nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
Last month, North Korea offered to suspend future nuclear tests temporarily if Washington cancels its annual military drills with the South.
The proposal was rejected by the US as an “implicit threat.”
Pyongyang views the joint exercises as provocative rehearsals for invasions, while Seoul and Washington insist they are purely defensive in nature.
The commission said the North is able to bring about the “final ruin of the US” with its “precision and diversified nuclear striking means.”
Hong Hyun-ik, a researcher at the Sejong Institute think tank in Seoul, said neither North Korea nor the US appeared particularly sincere about the idea of dialogue.
The US needs a “troublemaking” North Korea to rally support from its allies for its ultimate strategy of keeping China’s growing influence in check in the region, Hong said.
At the same time, with its economy in better shape than the past, North Korea feels “no sense of urgency” about resuming talks.
“Against this backdrop, neither North Korea nor the United States wants to take the initiative for a breakthrough,” Hong said.
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