North Korea Willing to Discuss Nuclear Policy

Missile launch in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on April 5, 2009. The People's Republic of China urged calm while the US administration sought to promote alarm and condemnation. The DPRK conducted an underground nuclear test on May 25.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

N.Korea willing to talk.

SEOUL— AFP.

North Korea said yesterday it was willing in principle to return to nuclear disarmament talks after the United Nations failed directly to blame it for a deadly attack on a South Korean warship.

The North, which denies US and South Korean claims that it torpedoed the ship with the loss of 46 lives, indicated it felt vindicated by the UN statement which was watered down under pressure from China, Pyongyang's ally. All parties in the months-long dispute, which has sharply raised regional tensions, professed satisfaction with the presidential statement adopted on Friday, which condemns the March attack without specifying the culprit.

The North said the statement exposes the “foolish calculation” of the United States and South Korea in bringing the issue to the UN. It warned of “strong physical retaliation” if they press on with counter-measures over the sinking.

If hostile forces persist in “demonstration of forces and sanctions”, they would not escape “strong physical retaliation” or evade responsibility for escalating the conflict, a foreign ministry spokesman told official media.