DPRK says nuke arms not tradable for aid

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said yesterday it would never trade its nuclear weapons program for aid and stressed its "unshakable" stance to retain the deterrent, following a third atomic test last month.

The foreign ministry, in a statement carried by state TV, rejected suggestions that the country was using its weapons program as a way of bullying neighbors into offering much-needed aid.

The US is seriously mistaken if it thinks that the DPRK had access to nukes as a bargaining chip to barter them for what it called economic reward, it said.

The comments came days after the US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon said Washington was willing to hold "authentic negotiations" with the North if it changed its behavior.

"To get the assistance it desperately needs and the respect it claims it wants, North Korea will have to change course," he said last week.

But the country yesterday called its atomic weaponry a "treasured sword" to protect itself from what it called a hostile US policy.

The US "temptation" may work on other countries "but it sounds nonsensical" to Pyongyang, the ministry statement said. "The DPRK would like to re-clarify its unshakable principled stand on its nuclear deterrence for self-defense."

Last month's test, its most powerful to date, prompted the United Nations to further tighten sanctions imposed following previous nuclear tests and long-range rocket launches in 2006 and 2009.

The tougher sanctions, and an ongoing South Korean-US military exercise, sparked an angry response from the DPRK, which said it was tearing up the armistice that ended the Korean War and ending non-aggression pacts with its southern neighbor.

The country has suffered chronic food and fuel shortages for decades, with the situation exacerbated by floods, droughts, mismanagement and global sanctions.