The Guardian 13 April, 2005
DPRK’s reasons for nuclear weapons
In a Foreign Ministry statement the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has once again declared its commitment to a lasting peace, stability and the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
The statement charges that the US and its allies are spreading a wrong view on the denuclearisation of the peninsula. The US asserts that the DPRK’s access to nuclear weapons is incompatible with efforts to ensure security and the abandonment of the DPRK’s nuclear program.
But the DPRK statement argues that if the Korean Peninsula is to be denuclearised, it is necessary to put an end to the US nuclear threat in and around the peninsula. It is this which has compelled the DPRK to have access to nuclear weapons.
The US asserts that if the DPRK dismantled it nuclear weapons and abandoned its nuclear program it would lead to the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsular. However, this "sidesteps the nuclear threat posed by Washington", says the foreign ministry statement.
The statement recalls that the DPRK initiated the objective of freeing the peninsula of nuclear weapons. It was with this objective in mind that the DPRK acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and concluded a "Framework Agreement" between the DPRK and the US.
Instead of implementing this agreement the US proceeded with attempts to isolate the DPRK; listed it as one of the three countries branded as the "axis of evil"; and called for regime change.
The Bush administration, in particular, openly posed a nuclear threat to the DPRK, thus compelling it to produce nuclear weapons so as to prevent a war and protect its system and existence says the DPRK statement.
If the peninsula is to be nuclear-free, it is necessary to clear south Korea of all the nuclear weapons and stop all nuclear war exercises against the DPRK in and around the Korean Peninsula and to build relations of confidence among surrounding countries including the DPRK and the US
"Only then is it possible to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula in practice", says the statement.
Given that the DPRK and the US are technically at war (no peace treaty has ever been signed — Ed), nuclear weapons in the hands of the DPRK serve as a main deterrent force in its effort to avert a war on the peninsula and ensure peace and stability there until the above-program is implemented says the statement.