North Korea has said it will not relinquish its nuclear weapons until
the US eliminates its own “nuclear threat,” according to a commentary
published by state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“The proper definition of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is
completely eliminating the American nuclear threat to North Korea
before eliminating our nuclear capability,” the commentary says.
The US and North Korea are deadlocked in negotiations over how North
Korea will denuclearize in return for the easing of sanctions. On June
12 in Singapore, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald
Trump signed a vaguely worded pledge to “work toward complete
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
However, in the six months since, talks have stalled and North Korean
criticism of the US has sharpened, though Pyongyang has continued to
heap praise on Trump. The commentary published Thursday suggests one
obstacle in the negotiations could be US military assets based in South
Korea and the protection of South Korea under the US nuclear umbrella.
“When talking about the Korean peninsula, it encompasses not only our
republic’s territory but also South Korea where the American nuclear
weapons and armed forces for invasion are spread out. When talking about
denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, [the US] needs to know that
it means eliminating all nuclear threat factors,” the commentary says.
The statement also says the US push toward the total denuclearization
of the Korean Peninsula should include the removal of nuclear threats
from “not only the North and the South, but from all neighboring areas.”