North Korea's recently proposed preconditions for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula are nothing but a "deceitful tactic" to undermine ongoing global efforts to enforce sanctions on the communist country, the foreign ministry here said Thursday.
On Wednesday the North issued a statement in which it proposed five preconditions necessary to make it possible to free the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons. They included the disclosure of nuclear weapons held by U.S. troops in the South and a demand for their withdrawal.
"The North is making groundless claims about a nuclear threat that does not exist and is trying to undermine the alliance between South Korea and the United States, a backbone of our national security," Cho June-hyuck, the ministry's spokesman, told a regular briefing.
"This is a deceitful tactic aimed at weakening the global momentum building up for sanctions by passing its own responsibility onto others," he added. The official said such behavior cannot be tolerated.
He reaffirmed the government's earlier stance that it will keep working together with the international community to put pressure on the North until it shows genuine willingness to give up its nuclear ambitions.
Related to the North's latest demands, some observers here said outlining preconditions, however unrealistic, may be a sign of change in the North's attitude compared to the recent past.
Pyongyang has persistently steered clear of mentioning denuclearization and made clear it will never give up its nuclear weapons program. (Yonhap)
