Northern Nuclear Weapons
North Korea’s envoy to the United Nations told Voice of America that the Kim Jong-un regime will never give up its nuclear arsenal until other countries, including the United States, are also disarmed.
North Korea condemned the U.S. nuclear weapons policy on March 23, regarding the U.S.’s call for dismantling North Korea's nuclear program a backhanded move. North Korea's state-controlled media claimed that Washington is a violator of the U.N. Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, since it possesses 2,900 warheads.
The North Korean representative added that Pyongyang is not interested in resuming negotiations if denuclearization is the premise of a dialogue. A report said that Pyongyang has not even considered possible terms or conditions of the talks in the case that they are resumed. The multilateral talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia, and Japan haven't been held since late 2008, when Pyongyang walked out of the process. The North Korean representative blamed the U.S., saying that it is escalating its hostile policy against the North.
In response to the North Korean official's remarks, the U.S. State Department demanded that North Korea immediately abandon its nuclear weapons and all existing nuclear programs to comply with the U.N. Security Council's Resolutions on the regime. It also reiterated its stance that the U.S. government will not recognize North Korea as a nuclear state and called on the regime to refrain from threatening peace and security in the region.
Despite North Korea's comments, Washington presumably has been trying to re-initiate six-party talks with North Korea. Today U.S. Special Representative Sung Kim will meet with his Russian counterpart Igor Morgulov in Moscow to talk about the North Korean nuclear issue. On the other hand, former U.S. nuclear negotiator Robert Gallucci said at a meeting hosted by U.S. website 38 North that it will be hard for the Obama administration to achieve a new nuclear deal with North Korea, even if it can approach a nuclear agreement with Iran.