North Korea said today its nuclear programme would be limited for the time being to peaceful purposes in an official media report blaming the United States for the nuclear crisis.
One week after Pyongyang withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), North Korea's official media defended the decision but said it had no plans to produce nuclear bombs.
"Though the DPRK [North Korea] withdrew from the NPT, its nuclear activity at the present stage will be limited to such peaceful purposes as electricity production," the official Korean Central News Agency said.
The report said that the nuclear crisis was Washington's fault for failing to respond to a request for a non-aggression pact while threatening North Korea with nuclear war.
"The US raised the unreasonable and brigandish demand that the DPRK scrap its nuclear programme before dialogue, far from honestly responding to the DPRK's constructive proposal for concluding a non-aggression treaty with the US," it added.
Washington has refused to negotiate unless North Korea agrees to scrap its nuclear weapons drive.
AFP
