SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea pressed the United States to accept its demand for direct talks on the communist regime's nuclear program, issuing a veiled threat Monday that Pyongyang will expand its nuclear arsenal unless Washington agrees.
The statement came as North Korea's No. 2 nuclear negotiator, Ri Gun, wrapped up a rare trip to the U.S., where he met with the chief American nuclear negotiator, Sung Kim, amid media speculation the two discussed bilateral negotiations.
North Korea has demanded direct talks with Washington since conducting a series of nuclear and missile tests and quitting six-party nuclear negotiations involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S. earlier this year.
"As the (North) was magnanimous enough to clarify the stand that it is possible to hold multilateral talks including the six-party talks depending on the talks with the U.S., now is the U.S. turn," North Korea's Foreign Ministry said, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.
"If the U.S. is not ready to sit at a negotiating table with the (North), it will go its own way," the ministry said.
North Korea's Foreign Ministry did not elaborate in the statement carried by state media, which appeared to be a threat to enlarge its nuclear arsenal.
North Korea agreed in 2007 to disable its nuclear facilities — as a step toward its ultimate dismantlement — in exchange for energy aid and political concessions. Pyongyang halted the process and later abandoned the pact after receiving most of the promised energy aid and concessions.
The standoff led to Pyongyang conducting its second nuclear test and banned missile tests earlier this year.
However, North Korea said Monday that "meaningful progress" on a nuclear-free Korean peninsula is possible "if the hostile relations between the (North) and the U.S. are settled and confidence is built between them."
The North has warned in recent months it is enlarging its nuclear stockpile, saying it is "weaponizing" plutonium and has succeeded in enriching uranium, a second way of building atomic bombs, in an apparent attempt to pressure Washington to agree to one-on-one talks.
North Korea has long called for direct talks with the U.S. to resolve the nuclear standoff, and maintains it is compelled to develop atomic bombs to cope with what it calls "U.S. nuclear threats."
Washington has denied it has any intention of attacking the North, but Defense Secretary Robert Gates assured South Korea last month it would use all military capabilities — including its nuclear might — to defend the longtime ally.
Pyongyang's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper blasted Gates' remarks, saying the U.S. is trying to provoke a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula.
The paper said in a commentary carried by KCNA that the North's "nuclear deterrent will be bolstered" if the U.S. refuses to switch its "policy of aggression" toward the North.
The U.S. has said it is willing to engage North Korea in bilateral talks if they lead to the resumption of the stalled six-nation disarmament talks.
Officials in Washington say no decision has been made on whether to hold direct talks.
North Korea also said Monday there was no progress on the issue of bilateral talks.
South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said Monday that bilateral talks between the U.S. and the North should be aimed at reviving the stalled six-party talks and any substantial negotiations should take place at the multilateral discussions.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091102/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_nuclear
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