Advertisement

North Korea offers U.S. deal to halt nuclear test

 
DEPORTED OVER COMMENTS: Shin Eun Mi of California, left, weeps as she arrives at the airport in Incheon, South Korea, on Saturday after the government ordered her deported. Shin was accused of praising rival North Korea in a recent lecture.
DEPORTED OVER COMMENTS: Shin Eun Mi of California, left, weeps as she arrives at the airport in Incheon, South Korea, on Saturday after the government ordered her deported. Shin was accused of praising rival North Korea in a recent lecture.
Published Jan. 11, 2015

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has told the United States that it is willing to impose a temporary moratorium on its nuclear tests if Washington scraps planned military drills with South Korea this year, the North's official news agency said Saturday.

Washington called the linking of the military drills with a possible nuclear test "an implicit threat," but said it was open to dialogue with North Korea.

The United States has previously refused to cancel military drills with South Korea, even at times of high tensions, and has said the North must first demonstrate how sincere it is about nuclear disarmament before serious talks can resume.

The North's reported proposal comes at a time of animosity between North Korea and the United States over a Sony movie depicting the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The United States blames the North for crippling hacking attacks on Sony Entertainment and subsequently imposed new sanctions on the country, inviting an angry response from Pyongyang, which has denied responsibility for the cyberattacks.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the government proposed to the United States what it calls a "crucial step" to ease animosities and remove the danger of war, prompted by desires to pave the way for a reunification with South Korea this year, which marks the 70th anniversary of the rivals' division.

The message proposed that the United States "contribute to easing tension on the Korean peninsula by temporarily suspending joint military exercises in South Korea and its vicinity this year, and said that in this case (North Korea) is ready to take such responsive step as temporarily suspending the nuclear test over which the U.S. is concerned," KCNA's report said.

The message was conveyed to the United States on Friday through an unspecified relevant channel, KCNA said.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Saturday that a new nuclear test would be a "clear violation of North Korea's obligations under multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions."

The statement "that inappropriately links routine (U.S.-South Korean) exercises to the possibility of a nuclear test by North Korea is an implicit threat," she said.

She added that the United States remains open to dialogue with North Korea.