NK gives first official response to SK’s resumption of propaganda broadcasts

Posted on : 2016-01-18 17:14 KST Modified on : 2016-01-18 17:14 KST
Calling them a “totally irrelevant provocation,” NK Foreign Ministry spokesperson defends recent nuclear test, but says a peace treaty with the US is still on the table
A soldier passes in front of loudspeakers near the southern part of the DMZ in Yeoncheon
A soldier passes in front of loudspeakers near the southern part of the DMZ in Yeoncheon

North Korea attacked South Korea’s recently resumed loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts on Jan. 15 as a “totally irrelevant provocation” that has “nothing to do with” the former’s recent nuclear test.

The comments in a statement by a spokesperson for the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs mark the first response from an official government agency since the broadcasts were resumed on Jan. 8.

“The South Korean puppets’ resumption of psychological warfare broadcasts is a totally irrelevant provocation that has nothing whatsoever to do with the normal process of us following our parallel development course [of economic and nuclear development],” the spokesperson said on Jan. 15.

“Our hydrogen bomb test was merely a normal procedure to achieve that parallel development course,” the statement continued.

“The real provocations that are driving the Korean Peninsula to an extreme are being perpetrated by the US and the South Korean puppets against us,” the spokesperson added.

“We are focusing all our energies on building a strong economy and have no interest in the situation escalating, nor any need to provoke others.”

The statement’s claim is that the nuclear test earlier this month was simply carried out as part of North Korea’s parallel development course of nuclear and economic development to defend itself against “hostile actions,” and did not warrant the resumption of broadcasts.

The statement also contained a sharply worded warning against the US push for international sanctions and South Korea’s loudspeaker broadcasts.

“Right now, the US is bringing on the fire clouds of nuclear war by thrusting methods of striking strategic nuclear weapons on South Korea, while the UN makes a fuss trying to manufacture a ‘sanctions’ resolution with the hostile aim of preventing the peaceful building of our economy and improvements in our people’s lives,” the spokesperson said.

“These provocations [loudspeaker broadcasts] and hostile acts will not merely aggravate the political situation on the Korean Peninsula, but will unquestionably lead to sparks flying. If lighting this fuse causes an explosion, responsibility for the aftermath will lie with those who laid it out and lit it,” the statement warned.

The spokesperson also reiterated Pyongyang’s calls for an end to joint South Korea-US military exercises and its own nuclear program and the signing of a peace treaty with the US.

“All of our offers, including our proposals to halt our nuclear testing in exchange for a suspension of US joint military exercises and to sign a peace treaty for the sake of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, are still valid,” the statement said.

North Korea previously requested on Jan. 9, 2015, that the US temporarily suspend its joint military exercises with South Korea in exchange for a temporary halt to North Korea’s own nuclear testing. The proposal drew no response from Washington, which has demanded that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear program before any dialogue happens.

While affirming that the offer from a year ago still stands, the spokesperson also criticized the US for its response.

“It is outrageous that the US talks to us about ‘provocations’ when it insists on ignoring a fair proposal and driving the situation toward escalating tensions,” the spokesperson said.

North Korea also said it did not intend to use or proliferate the weapons it is developing, as it insisted in a previous government statement after the fourth nuclear test.

“Although we will possess the ability to carry out a nuclear strike and nuclear retaliation [against the US], we will not use our nuclear weapons recklessly,” [the statement] said.

“We will not proliferate nuclear weapons anymore or transfer related means and technology,” it continued.

“Our efforts to achieve denuclearization throughout the world will continue unceasingly,” it added.

By Kim Jin-cheol, staff reporter

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