DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman on Powell's remarks
Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday as regards the shameless remarks made by U.S. Secretary of State Powell at the world economic forum to evade the blame for the present nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. The statement said:In a word, Powell's remarks meant that the United States has done what it should do as an "apostle of peace" while expressing its will for nonaggression and negotiated settlement of the issue but the present situation has not yet been settled because the DPRK refuses to move.
Since he told such a lie to mislead public opinion, the DPRK cannot but dissect his remarks whether they are true.
In his speech at the forum, Powell said Pyongyang "admitted" the "bald facts" turned up by the U.S. over the uranium enrichment program.
As for this matter, Kelly, assistant secretary of U.S. State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, took an arrogant attitude during his visit to Pyongyang, groundlessly urging the DPRK to admit the U.S. assertion for the "program". So, we took the attitude of neither denying it nor confirming it.
The "information" repeatedly turned up by the U.S. is an invention which does not deserve even a passing note. We had experienced such practice through the case of "secret underground nuclear facilities discovered" in Kumchang-ri of the DPRK in 1998.
At that time the U.S. peddled what was called "information" only to find the tunnel in Kumchang-ri empty. So, the U.S. had to grant 600,000 tons of food to the DPRK in compensation for such groundless mockery of it. This is a serious lesson that the U.S. should have drawn.
Powell also stated that the U.S. has no intention of attacking the DPRK. However, his argument is quite contrary to the fact.
Ultra-large aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk-led warships of the U.S. were recently deployed in the East Sea of Korea, and he also remarked "we keep all of our options on the table", which includes an option of military strike to stifle the DPRK by force.
He said that the U.S. was ready last summer to pursue a bold approach with Pyongyang, which would have entailed political and economic steps. This remark is very hypocritical as the Bush administration had delayed the LWR project, which is to be completed by the year of 2003, and attempted to enforce early inspection only after site preparations were made for LWRs. The administration had also claimed that it would never compensate for the delay.
The hypocritical nature of his remarks can be also found in the assertion that the nuclear issue is not just a matter between the U.S. and the DPRK and the U.S. is working with its allies and others in the region. In this way he attempted to create the impression that it is a matter between the DPRK and the international community.
We cannot but mention that no other country in the world community except the U.S. has singled the DPRK out as a member of an "axis of evil" and a target of preemptive nuclear attacks.
It is not the international community but the United States which has brought the present nuclear crisis to the Korean Peninsula in a bid to isolate and stifle the DPRK.
That is why we have already clarified its stand that it is strongly opposed to any attempt to internationalize the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and will never attend any form of "multilateral talks" over it.
Powell also said, "over the past nine years, the international community engaged North Korea in good faith with the nuclear agreements which we now know Pyongyang violated." This is the statement reversing black and white.
As soon as it came to power, the Bush administration turned down the "engagement" policy and slandered the DPRK as "disgusting". It is again the administration which listed the DPRK as part of an "axis of evil" and singled out it as a target of its preemptive nuclear attacks after adopting it as a national policy to destroy the system of the DPRK.
It has already been well known to the world that the U.S. grossly violated the June 11, 1993 DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement, in which the U.S. assured that "it would neither use armed forces including nukes nor threaten with them." The U.S. also violated the October 21, 1994 DPRK-U.S. Agreed Framework, in which the U.S. promised to "move toward the full normalization of political and economic relations" with the DPRK, and the October 12, 2000 DPRK-U.S. Joint Communique, in which the U.S., declaring it would have no hostile intention toward the DPRK, reaffirmed that "the bilateral relations should be based on the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and non-interference."
This convinced us that the bush administration is an untrustworthy rogue group, which did not hesitate to turn aside not only the bilateral agreements the preceding administration concluded, to meet its partisan interests, but also international conventions such as the ABM Treaty and the Kyoto Protocol.
That is why we contend that it is important to conclude a non-aggression treaty between the DPRK and the U.S. as it will have binding force after going through congressional procedures.
