Asia-Pacific

DPRK says nuclear issue bilateral one with US

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-12-09 16:32

PYONGYANG: The nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula was a "totally bilateral issue between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States," DPRK official daily Rodong Sinmun said on Wednesday.

It had "nothing to do with relations between the two Koreas," it said, adding that the issue had been an outcome of the hostile US policy towards the DPRK.

As long as the United States dropped its anti-DPRK policy, eradicated the military threat against the DPRK, and stopped the provocation for nuclear war, the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula "would be solved spontaneously," it said.

The paper slammed the Republic of Korea(ROK)'s government for insisting a solution of the nuclear issue a prerequisite for improvement in inter-Korean relations.

ROK's stand was "imposing pressure on the DPRK" and it would "pay for its policy," said the paper.

The comment comes as US President Barack Obama's special envoy, Stephen Bosworth, is in Pyongyang in an effort to bring the DPRK back to international nuclear disarmament talks.