N. Korea accuses U.S. of causing nuclear dispute By Kim Hyun

SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Thursday insisted the United States is responsible for the nuclear dispute on the Korean Peninsula, saying its atomic weapons development was triggered by Washington's own nuclear deployment in South Korea over 50 years ago.

The accusation, published by the North's official website Uriminzokkiri, came as
six-party talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons program remain in a
stalemate.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pledged last week that his country "will commit
itself to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," softening from earlier
North Korean statements that threatened to hold onto its nuclear weapons.
Pyongyang claims that Washington forced it to develop nuclear weapons by raising
nuclear threats during the Korean War and deploying nuclear weapons to U.S.
military forces in South Korea after the war.
"The nuclear dispute on the Korean Peninsula occurred due to the U.S. deployment
of nuclear weapons in South Korea," Uriminzokkiri said in a commentary.
It emphasized Jan. 29, 1958 as the date that United States Forces Korea announced
it had deployed nuclear arms to South Korea.
The U.S., which fought with South Korea against the North during the 1950-53 war,
considered dropping nuclear bombs to end the bloody conflict, which was
protracted by Chinese involvement. The threat of U.S. nuclear weapons in early
1953, experts say, prompted North Korea and China to agree to a ceasefire in July
that year.
The U.S. maintained a nuclear arsenal in South Korea as a deterrent against a
possible North Korean invasion until the early 1990s. Following the Joint
Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula between South and
North Korea in 1992, the U.S. withdrew its weapons to encourage the North to give
up its nuclear drive.
South Korea is still protected under a U.S. nuclear umbrella.
"History and the reality clearly show that it is nobody else but the United
States that triggered the nuclear dispute on the Korean Peninsula and generated
the danger of a nuclear war against peace," Uriminzokkiri said.
"The U.S. ambition for a nuclear invasion against North Korea has never changed,"
it added.
Cheong Seong-chang, a North Korea analyst with the Sejong Institute, an
independent think tank in Seoul, said Pyongyang appears to be blaming the U.S. in
order to up its stake in envisioned negotiations with the U.S. and other regional
powers. The six-party talks, also grouping South Korea, China, Japan and Russia,
have been in limbo since last fall due to discord over how to verify the North's
past nuclear activities.
Cheong noted that North Korea stepped up its nuclear drive after the Soviet Union
established diplomatic relations with South Korea in 1990. It detonated a nuclear
device for the first time in 2006, although some say it was an unsuccessful test.
"If we look at the origin of the North Korean nuclear dispute strictly in an
objective way, it's right to say that the dispute emerged after the U.S. used its
nuclear card. It seems North Korea has posted this article to make its claim that
the U.S. is the origin of the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula," he said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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