Asia-Pacific

DPRK upbeat on non-proliferation review: KCNA

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-14 21:17

PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s official news agency said on Friday it was hoping for positive results from the ongoing Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference.

"The 8th NPT review conference is now underway at a time when many countries of the world regard the peaceful use of nuclear energy as an essential strategic option for achieving their sustainable development," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a commentary.

Therefore, it said, the May 3-28 conference in New York "should provide an opportunity of yielding positive results in such fields as disarmament, the fulfillment of commitments to nuclear non-proliferation, building nuclear-free zones and peaceful use of nuclear energy on the principles of equality and impartiality."

The commentary said it was the US that compelled the DPRK to pull out of the NPT.

It said that, after taking office in 2001, the US Bush administration unilaterally scrapped the "DPRK-US Agreed Framework" signed during the Clinton administration, listed the DPRK as part of an "axis of evil" and released a "nuclear posture review" in which the DPRK was designated as "a target of preemptive nuclear attack".

That move compelled the DPRK to withdraw from the NPT in 2003 in order to defend the country from US nuclear threat, the commentary said.

It said the Obama administration in its recent "nuclear posture review" excluded the DPRK, Iran and other countries from the "list of those countries against which nukes would not be used", which proves that Obama's policy is little different from that of his predecessor.

Therefore, the commentary said, the DPRK is "left with no justification to weaken its nuclear deterrent, a means for self-defence, under the situation where the US nuclear blackmail persists."

The 25-day 8th NPT review conference, being held at the UN headquarters in New York, focuses on nuclear disarment, non-prolieration and international cooperation on peaceful use of nuclear power.