ID :
55487
Wed, 04/15/2009 - 07:34
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/55487
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea to quit six-party talks in protest over UNSC statement
SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) -- Challenging the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its rocket launch, North Korea said Tuesday it was withdrawing from nuclear disarmament talks and restoring its nearly disabled nuclear facilities.
Nine days after North Korea fired a long-range rocket, the U.N. Security Council
unanimously adopted a statement accusing Pyongyang of violating an earlier U.N.
resolution barring it from engaging in ballistic missile activity.
The statement, issued in the name of the council's president on Monday (New York
time), also demanded that North Korea forgo further missile launches and return
to six-party denuclearization talks.
Ahead of its April 5 rocket launch, North Korea warned that any U.N. action
against it or even an attempt to consider one would rupture the six-party talks,
as it violates the spirit of respect for sovereignty among the participating
countries -- the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
"The DPRK (North Korea) will never participate in such six-party talks nor will
it be bound any longer to any agreement of the talks as they have been reduced to
a platform for encroaching upon its sovereignty and forcing it to disarm itself
and bringing down its system," the country's foreign ministry said in a statement
carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The ministry said the launch was "legitimately" carried out, adhering to
international rules governing satellite launch procedures, and that the country
will continue satellite launches.
Pyongyang insists it has successfully put communications satellite
Kwangmyongsong-2 into orbit, a claim refuted by outside monitors who say they
have not detected any new object in space.
"This (the U.N. statement) is an intolerable mockery of the Korean people and a
thrice-cursed crime" that denied North Korea a universal right to develop space,
the ministry said.
In response, it said North Korea will start restoring nuclear facilities it has
been disabling under a 2007 aid-for-denuclearization deal and consider building a
nuclear reactor.
The North was promised two light-water reactors in exchange for freezing its
nuclear activities in a 1994 bilateral deal with the U.S. But the construction
project collapsed in late 2002 when Washington accused Pyongyang of running a
secret uranium enrichment program. The fresh nuclear standoff led the regional
countries to start the six-party talks.
North Korea tested a nuclear bomb in 2006, but after the landmark agreement in
2007, it began disabling its major nuclear facility in Yongbyon later that year.
In response, the U.S. removed the North from its list of terrorism-sponsoring
nations in October last year.
"The spirit of respect for sovereignty and sovereign equality ... is the basis
and the life and soul of the six-party talks. The six-party talks have lost the
meaning of their existence never to recover," the ministry said.
"It (North Korea) will take the measure for restoring to their original state the
nuclear facilities which had been disabled," it warned, "and fully reprocess the
spent fuel rods churned out from the pilot atomic power plant as part of it."
Seoul officials said North Korea's response was stronger than expected, as it
used such absolute terms as "never."
Russia responded quickly with criticism, saying, "This decision will obviously
not help achieve the goals we set for ourselves" for the denuclearization of the
Korean Peninsula.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul,
said North Korea's true intent was to incite Washington to start bilateral
dialogue. To raise tension, Pyongyang may reprocess its spent fuel rods or expel
inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency from its Yongbyon nuclear
facility, he said.
"North Korea is saying, 'We've done all that is required according to
international procedures, but now that the U.N. is siding with those in power,
we'll go our own way to defend ourselves,'" Yang said.
"This is the start of strong actions, but on the other hand, North Korea intends
to directly deal with the U.S.," he said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
Nine days after North Korea fired a long-range rocket, the U.N. Security Council
unanimously adopted a statement accusing Pyongyang of violating an earlier U.N.
resolution barring it from engaging in ballistic missile activity.
The statement, issued in the name of the council's president on Monday (New York
time), also demanded that North Korea forgo further missile launches and return
to six-party denuclearization talks.
Ahead of its April 5 rocket launch, North Korea warned that any U.N. action
against it or even an attempt to consider one would rupture the six-party talks,
as it violates the spirit of respect for sovereignty among the participating
countries -- the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
"The DPRK (North Korea) will never participate in such six-party talks nor will
it be bound any longer to any agreement of the talks as they have been reduced to
a platform for encroaching upon its sovereignty and forcing it to disarm itself
and bringing down its system," the country's foreign ministry said in a statement
carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The ministry said the launch was "legitimately" carried out, adhering to
international rules governing satellite launch procedures, and that the country
will continue satellite launches.
Pyongyang insists it has successfully put communications satellite
Kwangmyongsong-2 into orbit, a claim refuted by outside monitors who say they
have not detected any new object in space.
"This (the U.N. statement) is an intolerable mockery of the Korean people and a
thrice-cursed crime" that denied North Korea a universal right to develop space,
the ministry said.
In response, it said North Korea will start restoring nuclear facilities it has
been disabling under a 2007 aid-for-denuclearization deal and consider building a
nuclear reactor.
The North was promised two light-water reactors in exchange for freezing its
nuclear activities in a 1994 bilateral deal with the U.S. But the construction
project collapsed in late 2002 when Washington accused Pyongyang of running a
secret uranium enrichment program. The fresh nuclear standoff led the regional
countries to start the six-party talks.
North Korea tested a nuclear bomb in 2006, but after the landmark agreement in
2007, it began disabling its major nuclear facility in Yongbyon later that year.
In response, the U.S. removed the North from its list of terrorism-sponsoring
nations in October last year.
"The spirit of respect for sovereignty and sovereign equality ... is the basis
and the life and soul of the six-party talks. The six-party talks have lost the
meaning of their existence never to recover," the ministry said.
"It (North Korea) will take the measure for restoring to their original state the
nuclear facilities which had been disabled," it warned, "and fully reprocess the
spent fuel rods churned out from the pilot atomic power plant as part of it."
Seoul officials said North Korea's response was stronger than expected, as it
used such absolute terms as "never."
Russia responded quickly with criticism, saying, "This decision will obviously
not help achieve the goals we set for ourselves" for the denuclearization of the
Korean Peninsula.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul,
said North Korea's true intent was to incite Washington to start bilateral
dialogue. To raise tension, Pyongyang may reprocess its spent fuel rods or expel
inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency from its Yongbyon nuclear
facility, he said.
"North Korea is saying, 'We've done all that is required according to
international procedures, but now that the U.N. is siding with those in power,
we'll go our own way to defend ourselves,'" Yang said.
"This is the start of strong actions, but on the other hand, North Korea intends
to directly deal with the U.S.," he said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
