North Korea criticizes Bush over nuclear stance
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-05 15:01

North Korea criticized US President Bush on Tuesday for expressing deep concern about Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program but said it was still neither against nor shunning six-party talks on the plan.

The remarks North Korea referred to actually appeared in a joint declaration after a summit between Bush and European Union leaders on June 20 in Washington. In it, they said the North should dismantle its nuclear weapons and programs.

"The U.S. chief executive was reported to have expressed deep concern about the DPRK's declaration of its access to nuclear weapons at a recent U.S.-EU annual summit in the White House," the North Korean daily newspaper Rodong Sinmun said.

Japan's Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura ponders a question during an interview in Tokyo July 4, 2005. Patience is running out for North Korea to return to stalled talks on its nuclear arms programme, Machimura said on Monday, adding that Tokyo was neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the likelihood the negotiations would resume soon.[Reuters]

DPRK is short for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name. It said in February it had nuclear weapons.

"It was none other than the U.S. that compelled the DPRK to have access to nuclear weapons and was chiefly to blame for having barred the process of denuclearising the Korean peninsula," the newspaper said in a commentary.

"The DPRK has neither opposed nor shunned the six-party talks. The point at issue is that the U.S. attitude toward the six-party talks is opaque," the newspaper said.

"If the U.S. persists in demanding the DPRK dismantle its nuclear program first without honoring its commitments, this will get it nowhere."

The six-party talks bring together North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. The talks have been stalled since an inconclusive third round in June last year.

On Monday, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told Reuters patience was running out for North Korea to return to the talks.

North Korea has said it could return to the negotiations this month if Washington treated it with respect. The United States has said this is another stalling tactic.

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