N. Korea demands nations with biggest nuclear arsenals take lead in disarmament

SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Yonhap) -- North Korea called for the worldwide removal of
nuclear weapons and urged the United States first to end its atomic threat to
Pyongyang for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at a recent U.N.
meeting, the North's state media said Sunday.

The North's Korean Central News Agency and other state media carried the remarks
by an unidentified delegate at the Oct. 12 meeting of the First Committee of the
64th UN General Assembly.
North Korea "demands total and comprehensive elimination of nuclear weapons in
the world," the North Korean official said at the meeting in New York, according
to the reports.
"When the states with the largest nuclear arsenals take the lead in nuclear
disarmament, it will positively influence the newly emerged nuclear weapons
states in various parts of the world and also contribute to total elimination of
nuclear weapons on this globe," he noted.
North Korea has hinted at rejoining the six-party talks it quit earlier this year
after holding bilateral dialogue with the U.S. In addition, North Korean leader
Kim Jong-il said to visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao earlier this month that
his country wants to have better relations with South Korea, the U.S. and Japan.
The six parties involved in the talks are the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan
and Russia.
North Korea-U.S. contact is expected when a senior North Korean official attends
a seminar in San Diego from Oct 26-27. The U.S. government has reportedly decided
to grant a visa to Ri Gun, who is director general of the North American affairs
bureau of North Korea's Foreign Ministry and deputy to the country's chief
nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye-gwan.
The North Korean speaker at the U.N. meeting reiterated the country's demands to
the U.S. to end its hostile policy toward it and replace the 1953 armistice of
the Korean War with a peace treaty.
"If the Korean Peninsula is to be denuclearized, the U.S. should terminate its
nuclear threat to the DPRK (North Korea) and definitely roll back its hostile
policy toward the latter.
"Replacing the Korean Armistice Agreement with a peace arrangement is essential
for peace and the reunification of the Korean Peninsula and peace and security in
Northeast Asia and the rest of the world," he said.
hkim@yna.co.kr