North Korea said Monday it plans to boost its nuclear weapons programme because of hostile US policies towards the regime, and called Washingtonâs criticism of its human rights record hypocritical. The North âwill increase (its) self-reliant national defence capacity including nuclear deterrent, pursuant to the Songun (military-first) policy, to cope with the US escalated policy to isolate and stifle it with the nuclear issue and the âhuman rights issueâ as pretextsâ, the Northâs Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The Northâs latest tirade cast fresh doubt on efforts to resume six-nation talks to resolve an international dispute over its nuclear ambitions. Since the crisis began in late 2002, the United States, South Korea, Russia, Japan and China have sought to persuade Pyongyang to disarm in exchange for diplomatic recognition and aid. In September, the North agreed in principle to do so, but implementation of the accord has stalled over new financial sanctions imposed by the US to stem alleged illegal activities in North Korea, including counterfeiting and money laundering.
| They agreed "in principle." In practice, they're lunatics, so it doesn't matter what they say from one day to the next, since none of it makes sense. |