North Korea: Denuclearization Includes Ending ‘US Nuclear Threat’

Local Editor

North Korea's commitment to the "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" also includes "completely eliminating the US nuclear threat to Korea," North Korean state media said on Thursday.

Relatively, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a joint statement after their historic meeting in Singapore in June that reaffirmed the North’s commitment to "work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" and gave US guarantees of security to North Korea.

However, conflicting or vague views of what exactly "denuclearization" means complicated negotiations that now appear stalled.

Thursday's commentary, released by North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency, is one of the clearest explanations since the June summit of how Pyongyang sees denuclearization.

"When we refer to the Korean Peninsula, the term encompasses the area of DPRK plus South Korean territory where US nuclear weapons and other forms of aggression forces are deployed," the editorial said, using the initials of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"When we refer to the 'denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula' as well, it should be correctly understood as removing all nuclear threat factors from not only the North and the South but from all neighboring areas."

North Korea rejects American calls for it to unilaterally denuclearize, and Washington should abandon the "delusion" of forcing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons "via pressure and oppression," the article added.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team