Tracking Number: 343188
Title: "North Korea's Nuclear Crossroads." The US urges North Korea to forgo its nuclear ambitions and cooperate in insuring a secure, nuclear-free Korean peninsula. Doing so
would enable North Korea to end its self-imposed isolation. (940510)
Date: 19940510
Text:
NORTH KOREA'S NUCLEAR CROSSROADS
(VOA Editorial) (430) (Following is an editorial, broadcast by the Voice of America May 10, reflecting the views of the U.S. government.)
Warning that "North Korea threatens the peace and stability of Northeast Asia," Secretary of Defense William Perry recently reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to a non-nuclear Korean peninsula and the defense of South Korea.
He pointed out that North Korea has "an unreasonably large conventional military force," which consumes about 25 percent of its gross domestic product -- "keeping its citizens impoverished." Two-thirds of North Korea's one-million troops are based within 60 miles of the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea. Much of this huge North Korean force is less than 50 miles from the South Korean capital, Seoul.
In addition to this conventional military threat, there is North Korea's nuclear weapons program. North Korea has a 25 megawatt nuclear reactor, the spent fuel from which could be reprocessed into sufficient plutonium for four or five nuclear bombs. In addition, North Korea is constructing a 200 megawatt nuclear reactor with the potential to produce enough material to make 10 to 12 nuclear bombs a year. With its history of exporting weapons technology, including ballistic missiles, to regions of instability, North Korea's nuclear program has caused grave international concern.
For its part, the United States wants North Korea to fulfill its commitments to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and the North-South declaration on the de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula. "North Korea must understand," said Secretary of Defense Perry, "that starting a war would not only be rash, it would be self-destructive." He said, "The North Koreans initiated their attack in 1950 because they miscalculated the political will of the United States, and because they observed a lack of military preparedness in the South. Today there can be no confusion about the solidarity between the United States and South Korea, and the resolve of the United States to defend South Korea. There can also be no confusion about the military preparedness of the combined U.S.-Republic of Korea military forces, and their ability to decisively defeat any attack from the North."
As Secretary of Defense Perry said, North Korea "is at a crossroads -- not just on the nuclear issue, but also on the future of its relations with the rest of the world." The United States urges North Korea to forego its nuclear ambitions and cooperate in insuring a secure, nuclear-free Korean peninsula. Doing so would enable North Korea to end its self-imposed isolation.
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File Identification: 05/10/94, TXT202; 05/10/94, AFS201; 05/10/94, EPF206; 05/10/94, EFS203; 05/10/94, NFS205; 05/11/94, ERF305
Product Name: Wireless File; VOA Editorials
Product
Code: WF; VO
Languages: Russian
Keywords: KOREA (NORTH)-US RELATIONS; KOREA (NORTH)/Defense & Military; INSPECTIONS; ARMS CONTROL VERIFICATION; INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY; NUCLEAR
NON-PROLIFERATION; KOREA (NORTH)-KOREA (SOUTH) RELATIONS; KOREA (SOUTH)/Defense
Document Type: EDI
Thematic Codes: 1EA; 1AC; 1UN
Target Areas: AF; EA; EU; NE
PDQ Text Link: 343188
USIA Notes: *94051002.TXT
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