DPRK to boost nuclear deterrence force

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, October 03, 2003

DPRK to boost nuclear deterrence force

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Thursday that it will consistently maintain and strengthen its nuclear deterrence force as the United States has no intention to drop its hostile policy toward the DPRK.

A spokesman for DPRK's foreign ministry said his country has successfully completed reprocessing 8,000 spent fuel rods.

"As we have already declared, the DPRK resumed nuclear activities for a peaceful purpose," the spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The statement said the DPRK will reprocess more spent fuel rods from the 5-MW nuclear reactor in Nyongbyon without delay when it is necessary.

On the resumption of the six-party talks on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, the statement said the DPRK did not make any promise with anyone at the Beijing talks and the same holds true even after the talks.

On Wednesday, DPRK's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon told a group of reporters at the DPRK's mission to the United Nations in New York that the DPRK has already "processed 8,000 fuel rods" and also "changed the purpose of these fuel rods."

"Since the United States has threatened the DPRK with nuclear weapons to launch a preemptive nuclear attack against the DPRK, we have no choice but to be in possession of the nuclear deterrence," Choe stressed.

"That's why we have taken up all measures to maintain and strengthen that nuclear deterrence," he said, adding that the deterrence is not intended to attack other countries, but for self-defense.

S.Korea sees DPRK announcement as negotiating tactic

Pyongyang's announcement that it has completed reprocessing spent fuel rods is a negotiating tactic, said an official of the Foreign Ministry of South Korea on Thursday.

"We've not obtained information like this yet," the official who asked not to be identified was quoted by South Korean Yonhap News Agency as saying. "It must be untrue."

"Judging by our information, it would take more time to complete the reprocessing," the official said. "It seems to be aimed at increasing its negotiating power at the six-party talks."

"Scientifically, our estimate is that the DPRK has not yet finished the reprocessing," the official said. "We've received no information recently that the reprocessing made a rapid progress."

A spokesman for the foreign ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced earlier Thursday that his country has successfully completed reprocessing 8,000 spent fuel rods.

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