Rodong Shinmun, the publication of the North Korean Workers Party, claimed on Sunday, “It is inevitable for us to strengthen our nuclear deterrent in accordance with the hostile factions’ expanded military threats, which even brought our peaceful satellite launch into question.”
“Uriminzokkiri,” (Among Our Nation) a North Korean online media outlet for foreign readers, also released a commentary titled “The Height of Inequity and Arbitrariness vs. Determined Political Decisiveness,” in which it was asserted, “The U.N. Security Council has forced us to realize the necessity of nuclear deterrent.”
The word, “nuclear deterrent,” as used by the Rodong Shinmun, appeared for the first time in June, 2003 at a North Korean Foreign Ministry press conference and in a Chosun Central News Agency (KCNA) editorial. It means that North Korea regards the power to use nuclear weapons as a deterrent against a nuclear preemptive attack from an enemy.
Regarding the North’s Foreign Ministry’s official announcement absenting themselves from the Six Party Talks following the U.N. Security Council President’s Statement, Rodong Shinmun claimed on the 14th that, “It was a fair, timely, and independent countermeasure. Debating our peaceful satellite launch, which had been implemented fairly according to international legal procedures, is an unendurable insult for our people and an extreme anti-Republic (North Korea) hostile activity.”
“If you think that our Republic, where all the people value national dignity highly, will take part in the Six Party Talks even in the situation where its dignity is being damaged; it is like wanting wild berries in a snowy winter.”
Rodong Shinmun stressed, “If the hostile factions think we will submit to their power as they practice their foul purpose, it is a great mistake. As we showed with the satellite launch, our national power is mighty.”
“Although the Six Party Talks have been abolished and the process of denuclearization broken off by the hostile factions, our stance and intent to keep the peace and security of the Chosun Peninsula with our military-first power is invulnerable. The day to judge this issue historically will ultimately come,” Rodong Shinmun emphasized.
