| Advertisement |
SEOUL, May 9 (UPI) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye said North Korea is posing a threat to world peace after Kim Jong Un defended his nuclear weapons program during the Seventh Party Congress on Friday. Park said the North's continued provocations and its declaration as a nuclear weapons state were not acceptable, South Korean news service Newsis reported.
Advertisement
"In order to break North Korea's will to develop nuclear weapons, we must create an international environment that would leave the North no choice but to give up the nuclear option," Park said Monday.
Seoul is also turning down a recent North Korea request for dialogue.
South Korea's unification ministry said the call for talks lacked sincerity, perhaps in part because it was also followed by a statement from the North that called for the "liberation of Seoul," South Korean news network MBN reported.
"North Korea has not stopped provocations," said ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee. "It is contradictory and deceptive for the North to call for talks at this point."
Seoul's security ally Tokyo issued a statement that equally condemned North Korea's bold statement on nuclear proliferation.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Monday Tokyo could "never accept" North Korea as a nuclear weapons state.
"North Korea's priority should be to comply with the United Nations Security Council resolutions and to comply with the joint statement of the six-party talks," Suga said.
North Korea had aired a statement Sunday that it would be a "responsible nuclear state." Weapons would not be used unless North Korean sovereignty is violated, the Workers' Party statement read.
Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons has left the state in increased isolation and has soured relations with close economic partner China.
In response to the North's statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Monday Beijing remains firm on its position.
China has repeatedly called for denuclearization on the Korean peninsula.
