On the 18th, the policy department of North Korea’s National Defense Commission (NDC) issued a statement calling for South Korea and the U.S. to “apologize and stop all their provocative actions immediately if they sincerely hope for dialogue and negotiations.”
The NDC commented in the statement, “First, they should withdraw all UN Security Council sanctions measures, which they concocted on unreasonable pretexts.”
It went on to mention the Cheonan sinking and “March 20th hacking,” both of which have been declared North Korea’s responsibilities but which Pyongyang denies, stating, “All anti-Republic actions, fabricated claims linking North Korea to their accidents, must stop immediately.”
It went on also to demand an end to combined U.S.-ROK military drills, saying, “They need to give us a formal guarantee before the whole world that they will no longer threaten our Republic or cling to their intimidating nuclear war exercises.”
This, it added, “can begin with the removal of the nuclear war tools dragged in by the U.S. and can lead to global nuclear disarmament.”
