Accusing the United States of seeking to topple its political
system and threatening it with a nuclear stick, the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said on Thursday it is suspending
its participation in the six-party talks on the nuclear issue for
an "indefinite period".
A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs carried by the
official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said "We have wanted the
six-party talks but we are compelled to suspend our participation
in the talks for an indefinite period."
The DPRK said it would not resume its participation in the
six-party talks until it has recognized that there is justification
for it to attend the talks and there are ample conditions and
atmosphere to expect positive results from the talks.
"The present deadlock of the six-party talks is attributable to
the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK," the statement said.
There is no justification for the DPRK to participate in the
six-party talks again given that the Bush administration termed the
DPRK, a dialogue partner, an "outpost of tyranny", it said.
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice branded last month the
DPRK, along with some other countries, as an "outpost tyranny" that
needed to be liberated.
"The U.S. disclosed its attempt to topple the political system
in the DPRK at any cost, threatening it with a nuclear stick. This
compels us to take a measure to bolster its unclear weapons arsenal
in order to protect the ideology, system, freedom and democracy
chosen by its people," said the statement.
"We had already taken the resolute action of pulling out of the
NPT and have manufactured nukes for self-defense to cope with the
Bush administration's undisguised policy to isolate and stifle the
DPRK," it said.
"The DPRK's principled stand to solve the issue through dialogue
and negotiations and its ultimate goal to denuclearize the Korean
Peninsula remain unchanged," the statement added.
Three rounds of six-party talks, participated by representatives
from the DPRK, the United States, China, South Korea, Russia and
Japan, have taken place in Beijing since August 2003.
Although some practical progress has been made, especially
during the third round talks held last June, which was praised by
all the parties as "constructive", no breakthrough emerged on
substantial issues.
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2005)