DPRK FM Spokesman Urges U.S. to Lift Financial Sanctions against It
Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS)
Pyongyang, December 2 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry Friday gave the following answer to the question raised by KCNA in connection with the fact that the U.S. is now working in the direction of escalating its sanctions and pressure upon it: The world has welcomed the adoption of the joint statement on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at the fourth round of the six-party talks and hoped in unison that it would not turn out to be an empty promise.
The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the ultimate goal of the DPRK and its stand is to faithfully fulfill its commitment made in the joint statement and realize the denuclearization.
It was the DPRK's hope that the U.S. would drop its hostile policy towards the DPRK as it had committed itself to do so and thus remove the very cause of the nuclear issue between them and seek a peaceful negotiated settlement of the nuclear issue.
The U.S., however, has escalated its pressure offensive against the DPRK quite contrary to its expectation since the publication of the joint statement, thereby throwing a great hurdle in the way of the progress of the six-party talks and the implementation of the joint statement. It has become evermore undisguised in its moves to isolate and pressurize the DPRK as evidenced by the fact that it labeled the dignified DPRK a "lawless state," raising a hue and cry over "counterfeit notes," "drug smuggling" and the like and applied financial sanctions against it even while the talks were underway.
The U.S. loudmouthed "illegal dealing" is nothing but part of its anti-DPRK smear campaign as it has nothing to do with the intrinsic nature of the socialist system of Korean style.
Though the U.S. claims to stand for a negotiated solution to the issue, it is, in actuality, seeking to "bring down the DPRK's system" by isolating and pressurizing it.
It is quite unreasonable for the DPRK to sit at the negotiating table with the party keen to "bring down its system" and discuss the issue of dismantling the nuclear deterrent built up to defend it.
Should the U.S. persist in its sanctions and pressure in violation of the joint statement agreed upon by the six parties, the DPRK will be left with no option but to take all corresponding self-defense measures. The U.S. pressure offensive against the DPRK not only runs counter to the spirit of the joint statement but makes it impossible for the latter to honor its commitment.
Lifting the financial sanctions against the DPRK is essential for creating an atmosphere for implementing the joint statement and prerequisite to the progress of the six-party talks.
It was against this backdrop that at the fifth round of the six-party talks the DPRK strongly demanded the U.S. lift those financial sanctions against it among other things and thus remove the hurdle lying in the way of the progress of the talks.
The participating countries expressed understanding of the DPRK's just demand and urged the U.S. to deal with and settle the issue through separate bilateral talks with the DPRK side at the earliest possible date to prevent the issue from festering and adversely affecting the six-party talks. Accordingly, the DPRK and the U.S. agreed to have talks between the heads of the delegations to the six-party talks in order to take up and settle the issue of financial sanctions.
The U.S. side, however, again reneged on its promise and perpetrated such perfidy as shunning the talks.
It said it would set in motion working officials of its Department of Treasury and the Secret Police Service to brief the DPRK side on the U.S. Act, backtracking from the agreement on holding talks to find a solution to the issue.
The U.S. side should fulfill its commitment made before the five parties, if it truly wishes to see progress at the six-party talks.
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