North Korea asked China last month to be recognized as a nuclear weapons state, a source familiar with Seoul-Beijing affairs said Sunday, amid indications China is taking a firm stance against Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programs.
North Korean Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae made the request in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Beijing last month, according to the source inside South Korea’s ruling Saenuri Party.
“The Chinese side expressed its negative stance on North Korea’s request,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Choe visited Beijing as a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, raising the possibility that he made the request at Kim’s instructions.
The source said a high-ranking Chinese military official told a team of South Korean civilian and military representatives about Choe’s request during its recent visit to China.
Beijing, Pyongyang’s main ally and benefactor, has recently shown signs that it is taking a firm stance against its communist neighbor’s nuclear weapons programs.
Earlier this month, Xi and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed that they will not recognize North Korea as a nuclear weapons state or accept its development of nuclear weapons.
The issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons is expected to be a key topic during South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s upcoming summit with Xi in Beijing later this month.
On Saturday, the North made a fresh vow to build up its nuclear deterrent in the face of “threats of war” from the U.S. and a “policy of confrontation” from the South.
An editorial in Pyongyang’s ruling party daily, the Rodong Sinmun, said “reckless” war exercises by the US and South Korea could spark a nuclear war at any moment.
“As long as the United States and South Korean puppets continue with nuclear threats and threats of war against us, we will... strengthen nuclear deterrence through every possible means,” it said.
Park was no different from her predecessor in taking up a policy of confrontation, the editorial said, accusing the South of deliberately sabotaging planned high-level talks.
“Unless there is a fundamental switchover in the policy of confrontation of the South’s ruling forces, dialogue and improvement in relations between the North and the South cannot be realized forever,” it said.
(From news reports)
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
