Below is a translation of the speech made in Beijing at the six-way talks by Kim Yong-il, the North Korean vice-minister of Foreign Affairs and leader of the DPRK delegation.
"The denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is the general goal of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It is not our goal to have nuclear weapons. The denuclearization of the Korean peninsula was our initiative and it is our consistent stand and the desire of all Koreans to realise it. The United States is, however, standing in the way.
If the nuclear issue between the two countries is to be peacefully settled through dialogue the United States should make a radical switchover in its policy toward the DPRK.
This is a master key to and a precondition for the settlement of the nuclear issue. The Bush administration openly disclosed its attempt to use nuclear weapons after listing the DPRK as part of 'an axis of evil' and a target of a 'preemptive nuclear attack.'
This prompted us to judge that the Bush administration is going to stifle our system by force and decide to build a strong deterrent force to cope with it. Hence, we determined to possess that force. Our deterrent force is not aimed to attack somebody without any proper reason. It is a means for self-defence to protect our sovereignty. We can dismantle our nuclear programme if the United States makes a switchover in its hostile policy towards us and does not pose any threat to us.
The benchmark for our judgment that the United States no longer antagonizes us will be provided only when a non-aggression treaty is concluded between the DPRK and the United States., diplomatic relations opened between them and the United States does not obstruct our economic dealing with other countries.
The non-aggression treaty called for by us is by no means to demand 'security assurances,' but to have a non-aggression treaty with legal binding force whereby both signatories commit themselves to non-aggression. The United States can not shirk its responsibility for having suspended the implementation of the Agreed Framework. We have fully fulfilled our commitment to freeze our nuclear facility since the adoption of the agreed framework.
Kelly who came to the DPRK as a special envoy of President Bush in October 2002, failing to present any specific 'evidence', groundlessly pulled us up, using coercive words and rudely behaving, ignoring the oriental custom. He claimed that we have secretly pushed forward an enriched uranium program in breach of the Agreed Framework.
In this regard we made it clear that we have no secret nuclear programme but we are entitled to have weapons more powerful than those based on enriched uranium. We have powerful weapons, including single-hearted unity. After Kelly's Pyongyang visit, the United State misled the public opinion, saying that we admitted to the secret nuclear program and unilaterally stopped the supply of heavy fuel oil from November, 2002.
The DPRK-U.S. Agreed Framework concluded in October 1994 was thus nullified due to the unilateral refusal of the United States to fulfil its commitments. The DPRK should not make nuclear weapons and allow the nuclear inspection, finally dismantle its nuclear facility, put on ice the missile testfire and stop its export.
According to the order of simultaneous actions, the United States should resume the supply of heavy fuel oil, sharply increase the humanitarian food aid while the DPRK should declare its will to scrap its nuclear program.
According to this order, we will allow the refreezing of our nuclear facility and nuclear substance and monitoring and inspection of them from the time the United States has concluded a non-aggression treaty with the DPRK and compensated us for the loss of electricity.
We will settle the missile issue when diplomatic relations are opened between the DPRK and the United States and between the DPRK and Japan. And we will dismantle our nuclear facility from the time the light water reactors are completed."
2003.08.29
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