Rodong Sinmun Accuses U.S. of Trying to Deny Status of DPRK's Nuclear Weapons State

Pyongyang, February 13 (KCNA) - The U.S. is busy with a malignant smear campaign intended to deny the DPRK's joining the advanced ranks of nuclear weapons states. Whenever an opportunity presents itself, the U.S. claims that the DPRK had access to nuclear weapons illegally and that is disturbing peace in the Korean Peninsula and the region. Rodong Sinmun Saturday in a commentary terms this a deliberate act to misrepresent the situation in disregard of the reality. The commentary goes on: Every happening has reason and consequences. The DPRK had access to nuclear weapons entirely because of the U.S. The U.S. designated the DPRK as its enemy from the moment it was born and ignited a war against it and has posed a nuclear threat to it. Neither international organization nor international treaty has helped ward off the U.S. undisguised nuclear threat to the DPRK. Access to nuclear weapons was the only option to cope with it. The DPRK was compelled to defend the sovereignty of the country and the security of the nation from the U.S. ever-escalating nuclear threat. In the long run, the U.S. pushed the DPRK to having access to nuclear weapons. If peace is to be ensured in the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. should roll back its hostile policy toward the DPRK and opt for concluding a peace treaty with it, to begin with. Whether a peaceful climate is created in the peninsula or not entirely depends how the U.S. responds to the DPRK's proposal, the commentary concludes. -0-