The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday urged the United States to give up its " hostile policy" toward the country so that a solution could be found to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

"The key to a solution of the nuclear issue is for the U.S. to abandon its hostile policy," said An Myong Hun, a senior official of Pyongyang's diplomatic mission in Geneva.

Addressing a session of the Conference on Disarmament, the official said the nuclear issue in the Korean Peninsula originated from the policy of the U.S. to negate the ideology and system chosen by the people of DPRK, and to impose its own on them, An said.

An said Pyongyang possessed the nuclear deterrence commensurate with the character of the threat against it, and it was logical that the deterrence would be strengthened as long as the nuclear threat persists.

He added that the deterrence would not be needed if it was judged that the nuclear threat no longer exists.

The official said DPRK would rejoin the nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if the U.S. demonstrates the political will to abide by the Joint Statement issued in Beijing last September during the six-party talks.

The six-party talks, involving DPRK, the U.S., China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, aims at finding a solution to the nuclear issue.

The talks have been stalled since November, when Washington imposed financial sanctions on Pyongyang for alleged counterfeiting and money laundering.

An said the U.S. must withdraw the financial sanctions, because they "denied" the Joint Statement and rendered the talks meaningless.

"This is not a precondition for resumption of talks, but a matter of principle," he stressed.

Source: Xinhua