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Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) - North Korea reiterated that it is unwilling to return to multilateral nuclear disarmament talks while the country is subject to UN sanctions.
Rejoining six-party talks discussions before sanctions are lifted would put the country in the position of a defendant in front of a judge, the state-run Korea Central News Agency reported, citing a commentary in the Minju Joson. The U.S. and South Korea have urged North Korea to return to disarmament talks without preconditions.
The commentary coincided with a report on South Korea’s YTN television that the communist regime will ban ships from sailing in an area off its western coast, indicating it may be preparing to test-fire a missile.
The no-navigation zone covers an area 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) south of the Northern Limit Line, a border demarcated by the United Nations after the 1950-53 Korean War, YTN said, citing a military source it didn’t identify. The South Korean government is checking on the report, a Seoul-based defense ministry spokesman said.
Tensions have eased since North Korea detonated a second nuclear device last May and tested several missiles. South Korea proposed holding talks on Feb. 8 about resuming tourist visits to the North, Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae Sung said yesterday.
The KCNA report called for a peace treaty and the building of confidence with the U.S. to help denuclearize the Korean peninsula. A U.S. envoy visited Pyongyang last month in an effort to kick-start the six-party negotiations, which also include South Korea, Russia, Japan and China.
North Korea doesn’t recognize the UN maritime border, the site of a gunfire exchange between warships from the two countries last November.
