North Korea takes aim at US offer of talks in rare UN statement

[UNITED NATIONS] North Korea on Wednesday delivered a rare statement at the UN Security Council, accusing the United States of attaching "unjust" conditions to its offer of talks on Pyongyang's military programmes.

Deputy Ambassador Kim In Ryong said it would be a "fatal miscalculation" by countries to believe that the latest sanctions imposed by the council will deter North Korea from developing its nuclear forces.

"Their mean and indiscreet act would go in just the opposite direction to what they want," said Mr Kim during a debate on non-proliferation chaired by Bolivia, this month's council president.

"The US kept saying about 'dialogue' even at this moment" when the sanctions were adopted, Mr Kim said.

"But it does not make sense to profess about dialogue with unjust preconditions attached and by applying maximum pressure."

The United States has said it is willing to talk to North Korea if it halts its missile and nuclear tests.

This month, the council put 14 North Koreans and four entities on a sanctions blacklist, hitting them with a global travel ban and an assets freeze.

That sanctions resolution builds on two other measures adopted last year after North Korea carried out a fifth nuclear test and test-fired a series of ballistic missiles.

North Korea has dismissed the Security Council as a political tool of the United States and has rarely participated in its meetings, even those that concern Pyongyang directly.

AFP