N.Korea says to develop more nuke weapons
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-15 11:02

North Korea's foreign ministry said Pyongyang's possession of nuclear weapons would help prevent the United States from attacking it, adding it was ready to develop more, official media reported on Tuesday.

The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk arrives for scheduled joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, in South Korea's port city of Busan, south of Seoul, Monday, March 14, 2005. The United States and South Korea will conduct joint military exercises this week amid a standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. [AP]

"Reality proves that our possession of nuclear weapons guarantees balance of power in the region and acts as a strong deterrent against the outbreak of war and for maintaining peace," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying.

"The DPRK (North Korea) will take necessary counter-measures, including bolstering of its nuclear arsenal to cope with the extremely hostile attempt of the U.S. to bring down the system in the DPRK," the ministry spokesman added.

Pyongyang's latest statement on nuclear weapons comes as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice departs for Asia to push for a restart of six-party talks aimed at curbing the North's nuclear ambitions. Bush administration officials have repeatedly said the United States has no intention of invading North Korea.

On Feb. 10, North Korea officially declared for the first time it had nuclear weapons. It said it needed the weapons to counter what it saw as Washington's hostile policies toward the country.

Pyongyang also said it was pulling out of the disarmament talks. It later hinted at a return to the talks if the conditions were right and the United States showed what it called "sincerity."

There have been three inconclusive rounds of talks on dismantling the North's weapons programs involving North Korea, South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

Close

Today's Top News     Top World News
National People's Congress enacts historic law for peace         Anti-Secession Law adopted by NPC (full text)         Olympic torch expected to run through Taiwan         German gets compensated for fake paintings         Tighter rein on law enforcement demanded         N.Korea says to develop more nuke weapons	Official: 16 die in Filipino jail assault       Kurds, Shiites push ahead on Iraq government       Israel agrees to start delayed West Bank pullback       Former US president Clinton leaves hospital       Saudi urges 2% rise in oil output       Iran says may set deadline for nuclear talks