Among the many challenges facing the next occupant of the White House, few will be more pressing, or more complex, than that posed by North Korea’s seemingly inexorable drive to nuclear statehood. Pyongyang’s weapons programme has accelerated sharply in this US election year, with two nuclear tests and around 25 missile tests in defiance of multiple UN resolutions and sanctions. / AFP PHOTO /
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea on Thursday warned the incoming Donald Trump administration will have to deal with a “nuclear state”, saying Washington’s push for denuclearisation was an “outdated illusion”.
“If there is anything the Obama administration has done… it has put the security of the US mainland in the greatest danger,” said an editorial carried by the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun.
“It has burdened the new administration with the difficulty of facing the Juche nuclear state,” it said, referring to the North Korean ideology usually translated as “self-reliance”.
The editorial, which did not mention Trump by name, follows growing calls for the United States to change tack on North Korea, with US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper last month labelling attempts to denuclearise the North as a “lost cause”.
The United States has always maintained it cannot accept North Korea as a nuclear state and under President Barack Obama has made talks with the North conditional on Pyongyang first making some tangible commitment towards denuclearisation.
Referring to Clapper’s recent remarks, the editorial said a general consensus had been established accepting Pyongyang as a nuclear state.
“America’s policymakers should note Clapper’s remarks,” it said.
“Washington’s hope for North Korea’s denuclearisation is an outdated illusion.”
Although Trump has not laid out a clear direction for his policy on North Korea, he has indicated that he would be open to negotiations with its leader Kim Jong-Un to talk him out of his nuclear ambitions.
“If he came here, I would accept him,” Trump told supporters in Atlanta last June.
North Korea has been hit by five sets of UN sanctions since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006.
After Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, the Security Council adopted the toughest sanctions resolution to date, targeting North Korea’s trade in minerals and tightening banking restrictions.
Council members are currently debating a fresh resolution after the North’s fifth nuclear test in September.
According to Security Council diplomats, the negotiations are focused on closing loopholes and zeroing in on North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile technology industry.
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