Pyongyang dictates conditions for peace

Seoul, 18 April 2013: North Korea on Thursday morning presented a number of conditions to "resume dialogue" with Seoul and Washington and "try to build peace together on the peninsula." The conditions - which include the lifting of all UN sanctions and the end of the joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States - were presented by the North's National Defense Commission.

A statement released by KCNA (regime's press agency) reads: "If the US and the South enemies... genuinely want dialogue and negotiation, they should take these steps: The first step will be withdrawing the UN Security Council resolutions cooked up on ridiculous grounds."

The second - it reads - "you need to tell the whole world that you will not get involved in any rehearsal for a nuclear war that threatens our nation. Dialogues and war games can never go together. Finally, the U.S. and South Korea should decide to withdraw all means of nuclear war from South Korea and its vicinity and give up the attempt to reintroduce them."

The UN Security Council tightened its sanctions against the regime led by Kim Jong-un after the third nuclear test on February 12 without the consent of the international community. The vote was unanimous: even China, a historical ally of the North, condemned the act. The new measures have bent the economy of the regime even more, already at breaking point for at least a decade. According to the Korean bishops, the constant threats from Pyongyang "are a way to get more economic and financial aid from the international community."

The response of the South was almost immediate. It has termed the conditions posed by Pyongyang for a resumption of dialogue "incomprehensible" and re-launched its appeal for a return to the negotiating table with the international community. The spokesman of the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, Cho Tai-young, said: "The demands of North Korea are completely incomprehensible. They are absurd. We urge the North to stop bringing making these incomprehensible demands and make the wise choice that we have repeatedly urged."Source: AsiaNews