North Korea will not give up nuclear weapons unilaterally - ambassador

BEIJING, July 28. /TASS/. Pyongyang will not give up nuclear weapons unilaterally, North Korea’s Ambassador to China Ji Zae Ryong said on Tuesday. "We are absolutely not interested in dialogue [six-party talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program] on precondition that North Korea ‘freezes’ or gives up completely its nuclear weapons. Nuclear deterrence forces are not a bargaining chip at the negotiations table," the ambassador noted. "North Korea is a country that owns nuclear weapons. The fact of owning nuclear weapons is fixed in North Korea’s Constitution. Apart from that, works on miniaturizing and diversifying nuclear weapons have long been underway in our country. It is North Korea’s consistent position to boost nuclear deterrent forces with the aim of countering the ever growing threat of nuclear war with US," Ji Zae Ryong said. The diplomat stressed that the mechanism used to reach agreements on Iran’s nuclear program will not work with North Korea, since Pyongyang, unlike Tehran, "already has nuclear weapons." Read more