Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DPRK Opposes All Forms of Terrorism and Any Support to It

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS)

   Pyongyang, June 10 (KCNA) -- The DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on June 10.
    The statement says:
    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK is authorized by its government to state as follows:
    Frequent terrorist acts being perpetrated in different parts of the world seriously threaten human lives, social stability and international peace and security.
    The international community is becoming increasingly vocal, expressing indignation at these acts and denouncing them and calling for closer cooperation among countries in the struggle against terrorism.
    The DPRK government has consistently maintained the stand to resolutely oppose all forms of terrorism and any support to it, guided by the man-centered Juche idea and the idea of its foreign policy-- independence, peace and friendship.
    It clarified that it would cooperate with Russia in the struggle against organized crimes and international terrorism in the July 19, 2000, DPRK-Russia Joint Declaration and the August 4, 2001, DPRK-Russia Moscow Declaration. It also declared that it would support and encourage international efforts to combat terrorism in the October 6, 2000, DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement and the October 12, 2000, DPRK-U.S. Joint Communique.
    The DPRK government repeatedly clarified its firm stand to oppose terrorism whenever there occurred such grave terrorist acts as bomb attacks on the American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in August 1998, the September 11 incident in the U.S. in 2001, the bomb attack in Bali, Indonesia in October 2002 and the bomb explosion in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in May 2003.
    The positive stand of the DPRK to combat terrorism can find its expression in the fact that it has kept steps with the international efforts to fight terrorism in practice.
    The following facts can be served as typical examples of this: The DPRK supported anti-terrorism measures taken by the UN forums including the adoption of the UNGA Resolution on Measures to Eliminate Terrorism on December 12, 2000 and the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy on September 8, 2006 and the implementation of the UNSC Resolution 1373 on September 28, 2001. It took the initiative of acceding to international conventions on combating terrorism such as the International Convention against the Taking of Hostages and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons including Diplomatic Agents in November and December 2001.
    The DPRK on March 31, 2004 reported to the committee organized according to the UNSC Resolution 1267 the fact that it has no relations with Taliban and Al-Qaeda or individuals, groups, businesses and organizations related to them and it has sincerely implemented the measures taken according to the resolution and other related resolutions.
    When the DPRK ship "Taehongdan" was attacked by pirates in the sea off Somalia on October 30, 2007 its crew routed terrorists with the help and cooperation of U.S. forces. This became a symbol of the DPRK-U.S. cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
    The DPRK fully supports the international community in its efforts to establish an international legal mechanism to combat terrorism and will actively cooperate with it in taking effective measures for it.
    It will take active part in the international efforts to prevent substance, equipment and technology to be used for the production of nukes and biochemical and radioactive weapons from finding their ways to the terrorists and the organizations that support them and faithfully fulfill its duty in the field of non-proliferation as it committed itself in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on October 3, 2006 and agreements made at the six-party talks.
    Upon the authorization of the government, the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarifies that the DPRK will firmly maintain its consistent stand of opposing all forms of terrorism and any support to it and fulfill its responsibility and duty in the struggle against terrorism as a dignified member of the United Nations, in the future, too.