(3rd LD) N. Korea renews claim to nuclear arms amid little action from U.S.

(ATTN: UPDATES paras 7-10 with defense ministry spokesman's quote, INSERTS new quote
in 13th para, detail at bottom)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea vowed Monday to hold onto its nuclear
weapons until the United States removes "nuclear threats" against it, renewing
its tough position after similar statements drew little action from the new U.S.
administration.
Pyongyang has continued unleashing acerbic statements to justify its nuclear
drive since January, raising military tensions across the inter-Korean border.
Seoul and Washington have reacted calmly.
"The Lee Myung-bak group of traitors should clearly understand that the
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is by no means an issue of 'dismantling
the north's nuclear weapons,'" a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean
People's Army said in an interview carried by the North's official Korean Central
News Agency.
"The DPRK will never 'dismantle its nuclear weapons' unless nukes in South Korea
are dismantled to remove the nuclear threat from the U.S.," the spokesman said.
DPRK is the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea.
A similar nuclear warning was issued by the North's Foreign Ministry on Jan. 13.
Pyongyang claims that it has been forced to develop nuclear weapons in the face
of "nuclear threats" from the U.S. military stationed in South Korea.
Seoul officials deny South Korea has any atomic weapons.
The U.S. military withdrew its nuclear arsenal from the South in the early 1990s,
following an inter-Korean denuclearization pact in 1992. Washington has said it
will provide a nuclear umbrella for South Korea if it is attacked by the North.
Pyongyang insists about 1,000 nuclear weapons still remain in the South.
"There are no nuclear weapons in South Korea," Won Tae-jae, spokesman for the
Defense Ministry, said.
The U.S. military has about 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea as a legacy of
the 1950-53 war, which ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
The North's military spokesman called for "nuclear disarmament" talks between
nuclear powers, in an apparent demand for bilateral negotiations between
Pyongyang and Washington. North Korea detonated its first atomic weapon in 2006.
"The Lee group should know well that the only way of eliminating nukes under the
present situation where the hostile relations persist is for those parties
concerned that have nukes to opt for nuclear disarmament simultaneously," he
said.
In a landmark deal in 2005, North Korea agreed to terminate its nuclear weapons
program in return for economic and diplomatic incentives from South Korea, the
U.S., China, Japan and Russia. But the disabling process is now on hold due to
discord over how to verify the North's nuclear information.
Pyongyang wants to start anew with the Obama administration after combative years
with George W. Bush.
Cha Do-hyeogn, a North Korea specialist with the Institute for National Security
Strategy, a state-run think tank in Seoul, said Pyongyang is sending another
message for dialogue to Obama.
"With this, North Korea is displaying its consistent position that it wants to
reduce South Korea's standing and directly talk with the U.S.," he said.
Cha also said North Korea appears to be increasingly irritated as its continuing
nuclear claims have drawn little action from the Obama administration.
Washington and Seoul officials have downplayed North Korea's recent warnings as
"rhetoric." Concerning Friday's threat to scrap all peace accords with Seoul,
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said, "Let me just say this type of, you
know, rhetoric is distinctly not helpful." Wood said the six-party talks will
continue.
Pyongyang may also be trying to improve its position in upcoming negotiations,
analysts said. A group of seven former U.S. government officials and experts will
fly to Pyongyang from Beijing on Tuesday in the first major civilian exchange
between the two nations since Obama's inauguration last month. The group includes
Stephen Bosworth, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and said to be a
candidate for the post of special envoy to Pyongyang.
North Korea and its five dialogue partners will also convene a meeting later this
month in Moscow on ways to establish a regional peace mechanism.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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