By Lee Min-hyung
North Korea has slammed Japan for stockpiling 47 tons of plutonium that could be used to build nuclear weapons.
The regime's Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee said in a statement reported by the North's Rodong Sinmun propaganda newspaper Sunday, "Japan has continued to pile up plutonium for its nuclear armament for three decades since the 1988 Japan-United States atomic energy agreement.
The criticism came a few weeks after the U.S. and Japan automatically renewed last month the agreement allowing Tokyo to process nuclear fuels to produce plutonium for peaceful purposes.
The committee also widened its criticism to the U.S. government for not taking issue with the stockpiling.
"The 47 tons of plutonium can be used to create 7,800 atomic bombs that devastated Nagasaki in Japan in 1945," the committee said.
But what is more unforgivable is that the two-faced attitude taken by U.S. ranking officials who call for the North to carry out complete denuclearization at a time when they have not raised any problems with Japan's possession of plutonium, it added.
"If the U.S. has strong will for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, it should carry out a fair evaluation on the current situation surrounding Japan," the committee said.
The ongoing denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang are facing a setback, with both sides failing to narrow their differences on specific methods to be taken for the regime's denuclearization.
The North has in recent weeks stepped up its criticism of the U.S. for "unilaterally demanding" the regime scrap its nuclear facilities.
North Korea has slammed Japan for stockpiling 47 tons of plutonium that could be used to build nuclear weapons.
The regime's Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee said in a statement reported by the North's Rodong Sinmun propaganda newspaper Sunday, "Japan has continued to pile up plutonium for its nuclear armament for three decades since the 1988 Japan-United States atomic energy agreement.
The criticism came a few weeks after the U.S. and Japan automatically renewed last month the agreement allowing Tokyo to process nuclear fuels to produce plutonium for peaceful purposes.
The committee also widened its criticism to the U.S. government for not taking issue with the stockpiling.
"The 47 tons of plutonium can be used to create 7,800 atomic bombs that devastated Nagasaki in Japan in 1945," the committee said.
But what is more unforgivable is that the two-faced attitude taken by U.S. ranking officials who call for the North to carry out complete denuclearization at a time when they have not raised any problems with Japan's possession of plutonium, it added.
"If the U.S. has strong will for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, it should carry out a fair evaluation on the current situation surrounding Japan," the committee said.
The ongoing denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang are facing a setback, with both sides failing to narrow their differences on specific methods to be taken for the regime's denuclearization.
The North has in recent weeks stepped up its criticism of the U.S. for "unilaterally demanding" the regime scrap its nuclear facilities.
