NK Rejects US Offer for Security Guarantee
2003-10-23
North Korea has rejected the United States suggestion for a multilateral security guarantee for the North, labeling it as ridiculous.
"We have demanded the U.S. abandon its hostile policy toward us and sign a non-aggression pact with us, nothing like the security assurance," the North's Central Broadcasting Station reported on Tuesday. "The proposal is not even worth giving a brief thought".
U.S. President George W. Bush, in a meeting with President Roh Moo-Hyun in Bangkok on Monday, offered the multilateral security guarantee in exchange for the North's abandonment of the nuclear program.
Bush intimated that the five nations besides North Korea; Japan, US, South Korea, Russia and China, who attended multilateral nuclear talks in August could provide security assurance to Pyongyang in a concrete, documented format.
The North broadcaster went so far as to liken the suggestion to robbery. "Bush and Powell have come up with demand that they will give a safety guarantee only after we demilitarize ourselves by giving up the nuclear program," it claimed.
The North's statement is yet another bombastic response to international efforts to persuade the communist regime to take part meaningfully in multilateral talks to resolve the nuclear crisis.
Source : www.korea.net
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