N. Korea diplomat says there will be no negotiations on nuclear program
北 최선희, 핵 문제 관련 6자회담 복귀 불가 밝혀 And not much progress from the North Korean side,... as it has ruled out talks of any kind with the U.S. Choe Son-hui, the regime's director-general for North American affairs, says Pyongyang will not be giving up its nuclear weapons-- and instead, said Washington needs to accept North Korea as a nuclear state. Won Jung-hwan reports. North Korean diplomat Choe Son-hui was speaking Saturday in a closed door session at a conference on non-proliferation in Moscow. She reportedly said Pyongyang will not respond to any proposal for negotiations, such as the six-party nuclear talks, until the U.S. ends what she called its hostile policy towards Pyongyang. According to an anonymous participant at the session, Choe said the North is living under constant threat from the U.S., and that possessing nuclear weapons is a matter of life and death for the reclusive state. She added that those threats from the U.S. have made Pyongyang only more certain that it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself, and concluded that Washington has no choice but to accept that North Korea is a nuclear state. Choe is North Korea's director-general for North American affairs, and her remarks on Saturday are in line with those she made at another meeting on Friday, when she delivered a statement to the press. (ENGLISH) "DPRK's nuclear weapons are non-negotiable, unless the U.S. is prepared to co-exist with the nuclear DPRK. Because this is the only way to ensure lasting peace on the Korean peninsula and stability and security in the North East Asia." South Korea's deputy nuclear envoy was also at the conference, as well as several former U.S. officials, prompting speculation that there could be interaction of some kind with Choe. Seoul's Yonhap news reports that although she is said to have greeted the South Korean diplomat informally, no formal meeting was arranged. Japan's Asahi Shimbun also reports that she did not respond to a Japanese official's request for a meeting. She did however hold separate talks with Oleg Burmistrov ( ), a senior Russian official. Won Jung-hwan, Arirang News. Arirang News Facebook: / arirangtvnews ------------------------------------------------------------ [Subscribe Arirang Official YouTube] ARIRANG TV: / arirang ARIRANG RADIO: / music180arirang ARIRANG NEWS: / arirangnews ARIRANG K-POP: / arirangworld ARIRANG ISSUE: / arirangtoday ARIRANG CULTURE: / arirangkorean ARIRANG FOOD & TRAVEL : / arirangfoodtravel ------------------------------------------------------------ [Visit Arirang TV Official Pages] Facebook: / arirangtv Twitter: / arirangworld Instagram: / arirangworld Homepage: http://www.arirang.com ------------------------------------------------------------ [Arirang K-Pop] YouTube: / arirangworld Facebook: / arirangkpop Google+: http://plus.google.com/+arirangworld
