North Korea says it is prepared to go to war with the United States if it cannot achieve a peaceful solution to diplomatic standoff over its nuclear ambitions, a special United Nations envoy to Pyongyang warned Saturday.
North Korea's leadership, however, assured Maurice Strong, special envoy of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, that although it fears a U.S. military attack, North Korea has no nuclear weapons nor a plan to develop them, Strong told reporters following four days of talks in Pyongyang.
''They believe they are threatened by the world's main nuclear power and they themselves are quite prepared, as part of a settlement, to renounce any desire or intention to acquire nuclear weapons and subject themselves to inspections,'' Strong said.
''There is no question that what the North Koreans are saying is that they want to resolve it peacefully but, as you know, they are also saying they are determined to go to war if that is required for their security and the integrity of the nation,'' he said.
Strong said that while North Korean and U.S. stated intentions are close to the other's demands, a breakdown of mutual trust and communication has led them to ''talk past each other, rather than to each other.''
''So there is a serious and ominous risk that this crisis could escalate,'' he said.
Complaining that North Korea is a victim of unfair treatment, its leaders insisted to Strong that the United States was the first to break a 1994 agreement under which Pyongyang promised to give up any ambition to build nuclear weapons.
Under the Agreed Framework agreement, which Pyongyang says it is no longer obliged to comply with, an international framework was charged to build light-water nuclear reactors, while providing a supply of heavy fuel oil in the interim.
The U.S. halted oil shipments to North Korea in December, following Pyongyang's shock admission to a visiting U.S. envoy in October that it had been maintaining a secret program to enrich uranium for nuclear arms.
Strong called on the U.S. and other countries not to link political and humanitarian issues, while lamenting diminishing contributions to the U.N. World Food Program, which he said is helping to feed 6 million to 8 million North Koreans.
''We cannon make the children, the ill people, the old people victims of our political crisis (which) they have had nothing to do (with),'' he said.
North Korea's deactivation of monitoring equipment at its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and its expulsion of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors last month has prompted a steady stream of diplomats to Pyongyang.
A tight-lipped Australian delegation flew into Beijing's international airport on the same flight as Strong only about an hour before Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov boarded a Pyongyang-bound plane.
Meanwhile, a Beijing-based diplomat following North Korean issues told Kyodo News that Pyongyang cannily timed the restarting of its nuclear program at a time when it believes Washington is preoccupied with preparations to wage war against Iraq.
''North Korean leaders also realize the U.S. would find it difficult to win the support of South Korea and Japan in any military action against North Korea since these countries would be the fat in the fire,'' he said.
''North Korea's leaders are smart, not crazy. They know how to exploit opportunities,'' he said.
drudgereport.com
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