Amid speculation about when North Korea will conduct a seventh nuclear test, the country’s foreign ministry is drawing up explanatory materials to explain to friendly nations such as Russia and China its justifications for possessing nuclear weapons.
The development suggests North Korea intends to win support for its nuclear-armed status from nations hostile to the US, while at the same time strengthening solidarity with anti–American nations.
According to a high-ranking Daily NK source in North Korea on Tuesday, the foreign ministry’s explanatory materials focus on Pyongyang’s legislation of its nuclear weapons policy in September and is being written in several languages.
The materials are aimed at countries with North Korean embassies and consulates.
The source said the materials say that North Korea had “no choice” but to develop nuclear weapons for self-defense to deter war with hostile nations threatening Pyongyang, including the US, and that North Korea would use the nuclear weapons it possesses for international justice and peace.
The materials also explained that Pyongyang’s status as a nuclear state will help correct the “unfair, Washington-centric world order.”
Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui is reportedly examining the specific copy of the document herself, ordering corrections and additions.
According to the source, as soon as North Korea finishes composing the explanatory materials, the country plans to convey them — through military attaches and diplomats dispatched overseas — to diplomats and defense-related officials in countries that host North Korean diplomatic legations with a view to explain Pyongyang’s position on the nuclear issue.
In fact, North Korea is drawing up plans to complete efforts to explain the legitimacy of its nuclear status prior to the Lunar New Year holiday next January, the source said.
N. KOREA LOOKS TO FINE-TUNE TIMING OF SEVENTH NUCLEAR TEST
North Korea’s creation of the explanatory materials and its efforts to explain the justification of its nuclear policy to friendly nations suggests that the country is fine-tuning the timing of its seventh nuclear test.
Indeed, North Korea may conduct a seventh nuclear test as soon as it confirms the support of major friendly nations such as China and Russia.
Daily NK understands that high-ranking cadres in North Korea say the country needs to conduct a seventh nuclear test to achieve the state’s five-year plan for the development of the defense sciences. Moreover, they claim that the test must be held by the end of the year, or at least before next January’s Lunar New Year holiday.
Based on reports from several Daily NK sources inside the country, North Korean authorities appear to be setting next January as the final deadline for carrying out the seventh nuclear test.
Meanwhile, North Korean authorities are openly demanding that the international community recognize North Korea’s status as a nuclear-armed state, calling its status “irreversible.”
In fact, in an article on the ”Dynamic Advance of Juche Korea” on Sunday, the Rodong Sinmun stressed that North Korea conducted its largest ever military parade this year. The article further emphasized that the parade showed the whole world the military technology growth and operational capacity of North Korea’s armed forces, and that North Korea’s national status was “irreversible.”
North Korea’s development of nuclear missiles — including a seventh nuclear test — may accelerate if Pyongyang gains the support of major friendly nations for its status as a nuclear-armed state.
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