Interview: DPRK capable of BMT test

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is capable for Ballistic Missile Test (BMT) fly, but allegations for its test plan are nothing but rumors, a top DPRK official said Monday.

In an interview with Xinhua, DPRK's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon, who is here for the annual high-level UN debate, said that he has nothing to hide on his country's BMT capability.

"We had sent a satellite into the orbit in 1998, we do have the capabilities, there is nothing to hide," he said. But he denied allegations that his country will test fly ballistic missiles in the near future, saying those reports are only "rumors."

He highlighted the importance for DPRK's nuclear power in maintaining regional peace and stability, adding that there will not be any nuclear issue in the Korean Peninsula without US hostile moves.

He noted that the United States refused to remove the DPRK from the lists of sanctions and countries backing terrorism, even after it declared unilaterally to freeze all nuke programs, which, according to Choe, had cost his countries billions of dollars.

"If the United States has the will to coexist peacefully with the DPRK by abandoning its hostile policy on the DPRK, the nuclear issue will be resolved properly," he said.

While on the list of the so-called "axis of evil," the DPRK will always live under the threat of US preemptive nuclear strikes, he noted, highlighting the importance of the DPRK's nuke power.

He refused to give any detail on the DPRK's nuclear capacity, only repeated that his country has weaponized some uranium materials.

He told Xinhua last year when he headed a delegation to the UN General Assembly debate that the DPRK has "transferred purposed some 8000 waste fuel rod."

Choe went on to say that the nuclear issue is, in essence, "a serious political and military one to be resolved bilaterally between the DPRK and the United States.

On the six-party talks which also includes China, South Korea, Russia, Japan and the United States, he noted that his country had displayed "the great patience and flexibility for a peaceful settlement."

He said that due to the reality that the DPRK and the United States "are in a state of hostile relations of distrusting awfully each other," his country offered a package solution based on the principle of "word for word, action for action."

He recalled that the DPRK has moved forward by a first step by declaring a freeze of nuke program, but the United States returned by intensifying its hostile policy "in a more undisguised way."

"The US alleged that there would be no reward for the freeze or dismantlement of our nuclear facilities," he said.

Asked how much is the DPRK requiring for compensation, Choe refused to give a figure but listed several projects halted as a result of freeze.

The DPRK suspended construction of a nuclear power plant with the capacity of two million megawatts, which cost millions of dollars, according to Choe.

Source: Xinhua