North Korea warns against criticism of nuclear program
SEOUL — As global leaders prepared to travel to Seoul for a nuclear security summit meeting, North Korea warned Wednesday that any criticism of its nuclear weapons program would be considered a “declaration of war.”
“If there is any provocative act such as the issuance of a so-called statement concerning ‘the North’s nuclear issue’ at the Seoul conference, it would constitute an extreme insult,” said the North’s state- run Korean Central News Agency. “Any provocative act would be considered as a declaration of war against us and its consequences would serve as great obstacles to talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
North Korea frequently refers to the likelihood of war, and it previously called UN-condemnations of its nuclear weapons and long-range missile programs a “declaration of war.” But it has sometimes followed up by staging provocations, including nuclear tests.
The latest warning came as US President Barack Obama and his allies in the region planned to use the Nuclear Security Summit early next week to discuss how to discourage the North’s nuclear program and its scheduled attempt to launch a satellite, and what can be done should it press ahead with the launching next month.
So far, North Korea has sounded determined to go ahead with the launching. It insisted that its satellite program was peaceful in purpose and had nothing to do with its nuclear weapons. But Wash- ington believes that previous satellite launchings were part of North Korea’s efforts to build intercontinental ballistic missiles and mount them with nuclear warheads.
North Korea is not on the official agenda at the Seoul meeting, which focuses on a broader issue of preventing terrorists from getting nuclear and radioactive materials. But the conference will bring to- gether the five major powers involved in long-running talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
Meanwhile, US Defense Department spokesman George Little on Wednesday said efforts to recover from North Korean territory the remains of Americans killed in the Korean War had been suspended again because of the North’s recent behavior.