A top diplomat of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Wednesday that his country will not proliferate its nuclear capabilities.

"We has no intention of transferring any means of that nuclear deterrence to other countries," Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon told a group of reporters at the DPRK mission to the United Nations.

He said the DPRK has already "processed 8,000 fuel rods" and also "changed the purpose of these fuel rods."

"Since the United States has threatened the DPRK with nuclear weapons to launch a preemptive nuclear attack against the DPRK, we have no choice but to be in possession of the nuclear deterrence," Choe stressed.

"That's why we have taken up all measures to maintain and strengthen that nuclear deterrence," he said, adding that the deterrence is not intended to attack other countries, but for self-defense.

But Choe declined to reveal how large the DPRK's nuclear deterrence is. "One thing we can tell you is that we are in possession of nuclear deterrence and we're continuing to strengthen that deterrence," he emphasized.

Choe said the DPRK has normalized the operation of "all parts of the nuclear power plant" after the United States nullified its framework agreement with Pyongyang last November, under which the US would build a light-water nuclear power plant for the DPRK.

Choe, who is here attending the annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly, said that the DPRK "has no plan with regard to uranium enrichment."

Meanwhile, Choe reiterated that the DPRK has never made any promise on its participation in the next round of the six-party talks, which also involve China, Russia, the United States, Japan and South Korea.

"Certain mass media is circulating rumors as though we have just made promises to participate in the next round of the six-party talks," he noted. "Unfortunately, this is not true."

The DPRK and the other five parties held their first round of talks in Beijing in August on the US-DPRK standoff over the nuclear issue.

Choe also warned against raising the DPRK nuclear issue with the UN Security Council if the six-party talks fail to defuse the crisis.

If the issue is put before the Security Council, "there will be nothing conducive" to its settlement and the DPRK would "strongly correspond to that pressure," he said.
 
(Xinhua News Agency October 2, 2003)