Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

North Korea held a mass rally in Pyongyang on January 7 "to promote advancement under the army-based revolutionary leadership of Kim Jong-Il and to facilitate implementation of tasks for the new year." Attended by one million people and held at Kim Il- Sung Square, the rally was organized by the North Korean government to implement the themes contained in the "Joint New Year Editorial."

North Korea sponsored mass rallies in various places throughout Pyongyang on January 11 in the wake of its issuance of a statement on January 10 in which "North Korea declared that it is no longer bound by the obligations of the IAEA safeguards accord as a result of its withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)." A crowd of one million were mobilized to take part in the rallies to display support for the government's decision to withdraw from the NPT.  The rallies were held in such places in Pyongyang as the Kim Il-Sung Square, Pyongyang Athletic Square, Kaesonmun Square, Juchae Ideology Tower Square, April 25 Culture Hall, and Mankyongtae Student Youth Palace.

Pyongyang Broadcasting Station criticized the United Sates on January 10, asserting that "the U.S. declaration that it would impose economic sanctions and prohibit DPRK sales of arms abroad is truly wishful and foolish."    

Rodong Shinmun stressed in its editorial that "it is imperative that the U.S. respond to our calls to sign a non-aggression pact, since we will confront the imperialist U.S. in an ultra-hard line stance, in which we will respond with 'eye-for-an-eye' principle and we will not surrender until victory is ours." 

The North Korean Central Broadcasting Station, on January 8, condemned the annual military exercise staged near Seoul by the Capital Garrison Command maintaining that "the military exercise is a prelude to a war campaign designed by the South Korean warmongers in an attempt to collaborate with the imperialist U.S. to prevent progress in inter-Korean relations, to perpetuate inter-Korean confrontation and, ultimately, to launch an invasion vis-a-vis the North."

North Korea proposed to South Korea on January 9 that the 9th Inter-Korean Ministerial Talks be rescheduled to be held from January 21 to January 24.  They had originally been scheduled to be held from January 14 to January 17 in Seoul.