DPRK "totally rejects" UN resolution: envoy

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) "totally rejects" a resolution unanimously adopted Saturday by the UN Security Council on its nuclear test, the DPRK's UN Ambassador Pak Gil Yon said Saturday.

Addressing the council members after the resolution was adopted, Pak criticized the council of adopting "a coercive resolution while neglecting the nuclear threat and moves for sanctions and pressure of the United States against the DPRK."

"The DPRK is ready for both dialogue and confrontation," Pak said. "If the United States increases pressure upon the DPRK persistently, the DPRK will continue to take physical countermeasures, considering it as a declaration of a war."

He said the DPRK's nuclear test was entirely attributable to the U.S. nuclear threat, sanctions and pressure.

Pak said that "the DPRK has exerted every possible effort to settle the nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiations, prompted by its sincere desire to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

He accused Washington of responding "to the DPRK's patient and sincere efforts and magnanimity with the policy of sanctions and blockade."

Pak said his country "was compelled to substantially prove its possession of nukes to protect its sovereignty and right to existence from the daily increasing danger of war from the United States."

The denuclearization of the entire peninsula is an ultimate goal of the DPRK, he added.

The DPRK would "abandon nukes" when it is no longer exposed to the U.S. threat after it has dropped its hostile policy and confidence has been built between the two countries, Pak said.

Source: Xinhua