North Korea Says It Has Nuclear Weapons Program, Will Never Give It Up Without U.S. Concessions

Wednesday, June 18, 2003

(3:44 AM ET)

By Sang-Hun Choe

Associated Press Writer

"We will step up our efforts to strengthen our nuclear deterrent capabilities as a means of self-defense against the United States' strategy to isolate and stifle."

SEOUL, South Korea -- AP
North Korea will never agree to give up its nuclear weapons program without prior U.S. concessions, state-run media said Wednesday in the first apparent acknowledgment that the communist nation has such a program.

"It is quite clear that the DPRK can never accept the U.S. demand that it scrap its nuclear weapons program first," Pyongyang's main state-run newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, said in a commentary, using the acronym of the country's official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Rodong's commentary was the first time North Korea's state-run news media has said the isolated country has a nuclear weapons program. It also marked an intensification of the North's rhetoric in its standoff with Washington, which is seeking a verifiable end to the weapons program.

During talks in Beijing in April, U.S. officials said the North Koreans privately told them that Pyongyang already has nuclear weapons and plans to build more. Last week, it threatened to develop a "nuclear deterrent" against what it called a U.S. plan to invade.
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2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan