PSPD in English Peace/Disarmament 2005-03-22   1110

‘NK Nuclear Weapons Development’ Is in No Way Justifiable

-A new breakthrough should be sought to overcome US’s ‘aggressive disregard’ strategy outside of the inflexible structure of ROK-US concertation

‘NK Nuclear Weapons Development’ Is in No Way Justifiable
-A new breakthrough should be sought to overcome US’s ‘aggressive disregard’ strategy outside of the inflexible structure of ROK-US concertation

1. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry declared in an official statement that the country has “developed nuclear weapons for self-defense” and has criticized the Bush administration’s hostile policy. It also announced that “until the development of appropriate conditions and the right atmosphere, participation in the six-party talks will be suspended indefinitely”. The announcement draws both shock and disappointment from the people of the Korean peninsula and the globe, who were expecting a peaceful resolution of both the friction between North Korea-US over the nuclear development issue and the military tension in Northeast Asia.

2. We have expressed consistent opposition on the subject of North Korean nuclear weapons development. On numerous occasions, we have warned that nuclear arms development cannot even serve as a deterrent and only further jeopardize the peace of the Korean peninsula. Whether or not the facts of this statement can be verified, we strongly condemn North Korea for having disregarded the spirit of the ‘Joint Announcement of Denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula’ of 1992. North Korea would be fatally misguided if she thought that the ‘unusual circumstances’ of such factors as the US’s hostile North Korea policy could justify the possession of nuclear weapons. We will never, for whatever reason, tolerate North Korea’s nuclear weapons development. North Korea should realize that the peace and well-being of all Koreans is dependent on its actions and that dangerous antics could accelerate nuclearization and the arms race in Northeast Asia.

3. In the same vein, we cannot remain silent about the hypocritical nuclear strategy pursued by America. While the production of new nuclear weapons in America has not ostensibly taken place, its nuclear capability is being further strengthened through the development of hi-tech strategic nuclear weapons. Innovation programs for existing weapons making use of advanced technology and the RNEP(Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator) are examples of this development. Washington’s nuclear hypocrisy is the target of global criticism and is provoking other countries to arm as well. In all parts of the world, including the Korean peninsula, the abandonment and the dismantlement of nuclear arms is the key to denuclearization.

4. North Korea’s declaration to suspend rather than reject the six-party talks comes as a relief. We still support the six-party talks as a means to resolve the nuclear issue. Yet, skepticism has arisen over whether a sustainable peace structure could indeed be constructed and nuclear threats in the region eliminated through the relief of North Korea-U.S. friction in the six-party talks. Particularly, there has been criticism posed over whether the Bush administration is using the six-party talks, in the guise of a diplomatic solution, as a device to draw out time. In the framework of the six-party talks, negotiations between the North and the US that would make substantive progress possible were expected, but, due to the US’s negative attitude, a proper conversation channel could not even be established. U.S. measures to affirm the status of North Korean nuclear arms, such as the so-called CVID method, have received skeptical responses even in the U.S. Moreover, the US has placed at the table of the six-party talks an endless number of issues in addition to the nuclear one, ranging from missiles, and biological and chemical weapons to human rights. The recently used expression ‘Outposts of Tyranny’, sufficient to conjure up images of Iraq, is an extremely aggressive and unilateral concept. Concern that the ultimate goal of the Bush administration is not reconciliation but the collapse of North Korea is natural in this context.

5. In the light of the present situation, some have sought to reconsider the current dialogue-oriented policy towards the North and to further strengthen the ‘ROK-US concertation’. However, this is an ill-considered stance that follows in the footsteps of four years of the Bush administration’s errors and failure with its hard-line policies towards North Korea, leading to crisis on the Korean peninsula. We caution against outdated thinking that attempts to set the Korean peninsula back to the Cold War era.

6. The Korean government has affirmed that it will play a leading role in solving the nuclear issue. Currently, Ban Gi Moon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade is on a visit to the U.S. with working groups from the Ministry. We hope that the government will avoid reaching the same weak and unproductive conclusion for ‘ROK-US concertation’ as in the past. At this point in time there is a pressing need to act independently and make a new breakthrough that moves away from the past. The government should press the US to come up with a better-developed scheme for negotiation with North Korea aimed at producing a sincere diplomatic resolution, while redoubling efforts to advance dialogue and cooperation between the authorities of North and South Korea in more substantial and responsible stages.

Center for Peace and Disarmament

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