NKorea slams US ‘nuclear threat’By ASSOCIATED PRESShome/News/World/NKorea slams US ‘nuclear threat’SEOUL, South Korea: North Korea said Thursday it will never unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons unless the United States removes its nuclear threat first, a statement that raises further doubts on whether leader Kim Jong Un will ever relinquish an arsenal he may see as his greatest guarantee of survival. But North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of denuclearization that bears no resemblance to the American definition, vowing to pursue nuclear development until the US removes its troops and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan. “When we talk about the Korean Peninsula, it includes the territory of our republic and also the entire region of (South Korea) where the United States has placed its invasive force, including nuclear weapons. When we talk about the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, it means the removal of all sources of nuclear threat, not only from the South and North but also from areas neighboring the Korean Peninsula,” the statement said. The US removed its tactical nuclear weapons from South Korea in the 1990s.

Source: Manila Times December 20, 2018 06:00 UTC