NK Might Announce Its Nuclear Holding

Reuter reported that North Korea would be ready to announce its position as a nuclear-holding nation in case the U.S. would not give a positive response to its demand in relation to its nuclear position until its government foundation day of September 9th, quoting a Japanese source as saying such on July 23rd.

The source that has a close kinship with the North Korean administration said,

“North Korea is advancing into a new phase of increasing its nuclear experiments and arms productions by announcing its nuclear-holding status.”

The source also reported, “North Korea thinks that it could strengthen its position in the negotiation with the U.S. after such an announcement. But, the country is willing to give up on its nuclear program if it could extract some substantial compensation from the U.S.”

Before that, American presses such as New York Times had reported that some of the U.S. officials had worried that North Korea might declare its formal position as a nuclear holder on the occasion of its foundation date of September 9th.

sechepa@donga.com