‘N-arms not a toy’

BEIJING: North Korea’s nuclear weapons are “not a plaything” and their future is not up for negotiation, Pyongyang’s ambassador to China said on Tuesday, ahead of a visit by a US envoy.
The comments by Ji Jae-Ryong came after an international deal with Tehran to curb Iran’s nuclear capabilities in return for the lifting of crippling sanctions.
In a rare press conference in Beijing, Ji said the North’s nuclear capability was “not a plaything to be put on the negotiating table as it is the essential means to protect sovereignty and vital rights from the US nuclear threat and hostile policy”. He spoke at the North Korean embassy in front of pictures of the country’s founder Kim Il-Sung and his son Kim Jong-Il, father of current leader Kim Jong-Un.
The North “remains unchanged in the mission of its nuclear force as long as the US continues pursuing its hostile policy” towards it, he said, accusing Washington of basing atomic weapons in the South and turning it into “a largest outpost nuclear base”.
“We have the power to cope with any kinds of war methods of the US imperialists and have the strong power to restrain the provocative nuclear war acts of the US,” he said. His uncompromising remarks came as Washington’s envoy to the six-party talks — a forum aimed at ending the North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme through negotiations — was on a regional tour and due in Beijing on Tuesday.