Full story: Daily Times
SEOUL: North Korea on Wednesday sharpened its criticism of an upcoming Seoul summit, saying any South Korean attempt to address the North’s nuclear programme at the meeting would be seen as a declaration of war.
The March 26-27 nuclear security summit, to be attended by US President Barack Obama and other world leaders, will focus on tackling nuclear terrorism. But the North’s atomic programme - and its widely condemned announcement of a planned rocket launch - will be debated intensively on the sidelines.
The US, Chinese and other leaders will discuss ways to press Pyongyang to scrap its launch when they meet next week, South Korea’s President Lee Myung-Bak said in interviews published Wednesday. The North has previously blasted the event - the South’s biggest-ever diplomatic gathering - as an ‘unsavoury burlesque’ intended to justify an atomic attack by South Korea and its US ally. “It is a ridiculous attempt and an absolutely unpardonable criminal act for Lee Myung Bak, traitor for all ages, to bring someone’s ‘nuclear issue’ up for discussion,” its official news agency said Wednesday.
Any attempt to place the North’s nuclear programme on the agenda at the summit will be seen as ‘an extreme insult’ to the North’s deceased leaders who made denuclearisation their final wish, it said in a commentary. “Any provocative act would be considered as a declaration of war against us and its consequences would serve as great obstacles to talks on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.” The North’s official media frequently refers to the likelihood of war breaking out.
Its announcement of a rocket launch between April 12-16 - purportedly to put a satellite into orbit - has jeopardised a nuclear freeze deal reached only weeks ago with the United States. The US and its allies see the plan as a pretext for a long-range missile test, which is banned under a UN Security Council resolution passed after the North’s missile and nuclear tests in 2009.
Washington says any launch would also breach a bilateral deal, which offered 240,000 tonnes of US food aid in return for a partial nuclear freeze and a suspension of missile tests. The North insists a peaceful satellite launch is not a missile test but even its close ally China has expressed concern.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan told Reuters that while nuclear weapons and proliferation issues were not on the formal agenda at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul from Monday, Iran and North Korea would clearly be key issues on the sidelines. “There is no question that international community has serious concerns about the illegitimate nuclear activities of North Korea and Iran,” he said in a written interview.
“As major leaders including leaders of the participating countries in the six-party talks will attend the Seoul summit, the North Korean nuclear issue will naturally be discussed on the separate occasions such bilateral talks on the margins of the summit,” he said, adding dozens of such meetings had been planned.
Along with South Korean host President Lee Myung-bak, leaders from four other six party states - US President Barack Obama, China’s Hu Jintao, Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev and Japan’s Yoshihiko Noda - will be in Seoul for the two-day summit.
Lee is expected to urge China’s Hu to use his influence with North Korea to stop the planned rocket launch, which it says will put a satellite into orbit to mark the birth centenary of the state’s founder Kim Il-sung. agencies
SEOUL: North Korea on Wednesday sharpened its criticism of an upcoming Seoul summit, saying any South Korean attempt to address the North’s nuclear programme at the meeting would be seen as a declaration of war.
The March 26-27 nuclear security summit, to be attended by US President Barack Obama and other world leaders, will focus on tackling nuclear terrorism. But the North’s atomic programme - and its widely condemned announcement of a planned rocket launch - will be debated intensively on the sidelines.
The US, Chinese and other leaders will discuss ways to press Pyongyang to scrap its launch when they meet next week, South Korea’s President Lee Myung-Bak said in interviews published Wednesday. The North has previously blasted the event - the South’s biggest-ever diplomatic gathering - as an ‘unsavoury burlesque’ intended to justify an atomic attack by South Korea and its US ally. “It is a ridiculous attempt and an absolutely unpardonable criminal act for Lee Myung Bak, traitor for all ages, to bring someone’s ‘nuclear issue’ up for discussion,” its official news agency said Wednesday.
Any attempt to place the North’s nuclear programme on the agenda at the summit will be seen as ‘an extreme insult’ to the North’s deceased leaders who made denuclearisation their final wish, it said in a commentary. “Any provocative act would be considered as a declaration of war against us and its consequences would serve as great obstacles to talks on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.” The North’s official media frequently refers to the likelihood of war breaking out.
Its announcement of a rocket launch between April 12-16 - purportedly to put a satellite into orbit - has jeopardised a nuclear freeze deal reached only weeks ago with the United States. The US and its allies see the plan as a pretext for a long-range missile test, which is banned under a UN Security Council resolution passed after the North’s missile and nuclear tests in 2009.
Washington says any launch would also breach a bilateral deal, which offered 240,000 tonnes of US food aid in return for a partial nuclear freeze and a suspension of missile tests. The North insists a peaceful satellite launch is not a missile test but even its close ally China has expressed concern.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan told Reuters that while nuclear weapons and proliferation issues were not on the formal agenda at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul from Monday, Iran and North Korea would clearly be key issues on the sidelines. “There is no question that international community has serious concerns about the illegitimate nuclear activities of North Korea and Iran,” he said in a written interview.
“As major leaders including leaders of the participating countries in the six-party talks will attend the Seoul summit, the North Korean nuclear issue will naturally be discussed on the separate occasions such bilateral talks on the margins of the summit,” he said, adding dozens of such meetings had been planned.
Along with South Korean host President Lee Myung-bak, leaders from four other six party states - US President Barack Obama, China’s Hu Jintao, Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev and Japan’s Yoshihiko Noda - will be in Seoul for the two-day summit.
Lee is expected to urge China’s Hu to use his influence with North Korea to stop the planned rocket launch, which it says will put a satellite into orbit to mark the birth centenary of the state’s founder Kim Il-sung. agencies
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