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Muclear pact dead document { May 13 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2729190http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2729190
N.Korea Says Nuclear Pact a 'Dead Document'
Tue May 13, 2003 03:55 AM ET
By Martin Nesirky
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Tuesday a 1992 pact intended to keep the divided Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons was a "dead document."
A long report carried on the communist North's official KCNA news agency, as South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun visited the United States, accused Washington of scuppering the pact.
"The DPRK will increase its self-defensive capacity strong enough to destroy aggressors at a single stroke," the agency said, referring to the official title for North Korea.
It accused the United States of undermining the 1992 North-South Korea nuclear declaration.
"The inter-Korean declaration on denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula was thus reduced to a dead document due to the U.S. vicious, hostile policy to stifle the DPRK with nukes."
Roh meets President Bush on Wednesday to discuss a U.S. standoff with the North over its nuclear intentions before possible follow-up talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
In April, the North told U.S. officials at talks in Beijing that it had atomic bombs.
"This can be seen as a card North Korea plays to threaten by reaffirming its previous position that it cannot help but possess physical deterrent measures if South Korea and the U.S. drive the North into a corner," said Yu Suk-ryul, a professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul.
U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told Reuters on Monday the United States did not plan a detailed counter to North Korea's arms-for-aid proposal and was looking at ways to crack down on North Korean narcotics and missile exports.
"North Korea is now waiting for the U.S. response," said Paik Hak-soon of the Sejong Institute, referring to its proposal. "The (KCNA) report can be seen as a part of North Korea's efforts to appeal to public opinion."
In New York, Roh said on Monday Pyongyang had no choice but to ditch its nuclear ambitions.
KCNA listed nuclear arms it said had been based in the South. The North has often said the United States still has atomic weapons in the South, where 37,000 U.S. troops are based.
Stephen Oertwig, spokesman for U.S. Forces Korea, told Reuters: "Korea is nuclear-free for the U.S. military." (Additional reporting by Lee Jung-min)
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