DPRK urges US to sign peace treaty before denuclearization talks

PYONGYANG -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has once again said that a peace treaty should be signed with the United States in the first place before advancing the denuclearization process, according to the official KCNA news agency.

A foreign ministry spokesman was cited on Friday by the KCNA as criticizing the United States for "shunning conclusion of a peace treaty" with the DPRK and for requiring progress in the denuclearization issue before reaching a peace treaty with the socialist country.

The spokesman called the US stance a "height of impudence," asserting that the failure to yield results in the past when nuclear arsenal and peace on the Korean Peninsula were discussed simultaneously was a result of "unchanged hostile relations" between Pyongyang and Washington.

He stressed that a peace treaty is needed first in place of the armistice agreement signed in 1953 to forge confidence between the two countries and ensure the United States is no longer an enemy of the DPRK before other issues are put on the table.

He warned the United States not to misjudge the goodwill of the DPRK but to think twice before dismissing the proposal.

Pyongyang has shown strong desire for reconciliation with the United States by reiterating calls for inking a peace treaty to replace the armistice since late September when Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong emphasized the urgent need to do so at the 70th U.N. General Assembly.

Pyongyang said in early October that it had a message through an official channel to the United States to make the offer.

But the United States turned down the proposal as US Special Representative for North Korea (DPRK) Policy Sung Kim has said the US side for the moment has no interest in entering peace treaty discussions with the DPRK but regards the nuclear issue as a No.1 priority.