North Korea: No Alternative to Non-agression Threaty

North Korea reiterated Wednesday its call for a legally-binding non-aggression treaty between itself and the United States and a change of the "hostile" U.S. policy, saying those are the only ways to resolve the prolonged crisis.

Regarding the idea of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell that North Korea may be given a collective security assurance in writing at the upcoming six-nation talks, possibly backed by a congressional guarantee, the North Korean Foreign Ministry called it “indisputable.”

The impoverished country`s move can be translated as its usual rhetoric to strengthen the negotiating power by downplaying the American proposal and reiterating its stance ahead of the six-way talks.

“There are unsettling views in- and outside the Bush administration, casting a dark cloud over resolution of the North`s nuclear threat,” said the ministry. The current situation was caused by the Bush administration calling the North “axis of evil”, making it a possible target for a nuclear strike and abandoning the 1994 bilateral accord, which defused the first nuclear crisis, it claimed. "The resolution of the nuclear dispute between the North and the United States hinges upon a fundamental change of the hostile U.S. policy against the North.”

Seung-Ryun Kim srkim@donga.com