NK vows to continue nuclear test to deter US

By Jun Ji-hye

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, inspects North Korean Air Force Unit 447, based in Pukchang County, South Pyongan Province, the North’s state-run Rodong Shinmun reported Wednesday. Kim has toured Air Force units since last month, when the joint South Korean-U.S. Max Thunder air training exercise was staged here. / Yonhap

North Korea’s official newspaper Rodong Sinmun urged the United States on Wednesday to abandon its hostile policy against Pyongyang, saying, “Our nuclear weapons should be expanded to have deterrent power against Washington’s nuclear threats.”

The newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers’ Party, argued that the North could obtain nuclear strength by saving on other costs, and it was not to gain recognition from other countries.

“Our nuclear power is not a tool to bargain with for carrying out talks or improving relations with neighboring countries,” it said.

It made it clear that the Stalinist state will continue conducting nuclear and missile tests for as long as Washington and Seoul conduct joint military drills every year.

“We already announced that the main target of our nuclear power is the United States,” it said.

The newspaper urged Washington to judge the current situation with a cool head.

“The country will have to stop its old, hostile policy against Pyongyang at the earliest possible date and draw up new policies that correspond to reality,” it said. “That will be a beneficial way of guaranteeing the safety of its mainland.”

The North Korean state-run newspaper also targeted South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, blaming him for asking the U.S. to impose strict sanctions against the reclusive state, if it goes through ahead with nuclear test.

“His remarks that just followed the sophistry of the U.S. are highly ridiculous,” the newspaper said. “It showed that wicked plans made by a clique of President Park Geun-hye have entered the dangerous stage.”

The slander came a week after the communist state launched verbal attacks directed at President Park and U.S. President Barack Obama.

Last week, the North’s state media quoted a North Korean worker who called Obama “a monkey in Africa” with a disgusting “crossbreed appearance” and said he should go to the home of monkeys before suffering further humiliation in the world of people.

In a separate dispatch about Park, the North, commenting on the U.S. president’s April trip to Seoul, said Park invited “her American master reminiscent of a wicked black monkey” and called the unmarried female leader an “old prostitute coquetting with outside forces.”

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