You first, N. Korea tells US

Pyongyang bluntly states it won’t unilaterally give up its weapons unless Washington removes its nuclear threat first.

SEOUL: North Korea said it will never unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons unless the United States first removes what Pyongyang called a nuclear threat.

The surprisingly blunt statement jars with Seoul’s rosier presentation of the North Korean position and could rattle the fragile trilateral diplomacy to defuse a nuclear crisis that last year had many fearing war.

The latest from North Korea comes as the United States and North Korea struggle over the sequencing of the denuclearisation that Washington wants and the removal of international sanctions desired by Pyongyang.

The statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency also raises credibil- ity problems for the liberal South Korean government, which has continuously claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is genuinely interested in negotiating away his nuclear weapons as Seoul tries to sustain a positive atmosphere for dialogue.

The North’s comments may also be seen as proof of what outside sceptics have long said: that Kim will never voluntarily relinquish an arsenal he sees as a stronger guarantee of survival than whatever security assurances the United States might provide.

The statement suggests North Korea will demand the United States withdraw or significantly reduce the 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea, a major sticking point in any disarmament deal.