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| Politics - Reuters - updated 1:05 PM ET Mar 19 |
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By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea (news - web sites) fired the latest volley in an increasingly strident attack on the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) Monday, saying Washington risked war if it did not soften its stance. The statement followed a series of weekend anti-U.S. diatribes, couched in rhetoric reminiscent of the Cold War era, in which the Stalinist nation slammed the two-month-old Bush administration. Washington risked seriously harming relations if it were to reconsider a key 1994 agreement to help North Korea build nuclear reactors, Tokyo-based monitoring agency Radiopress quoted North Korean state-run broadcasters as saying Sunday. Such a move would be ``tantamount to a declaration of war,'' it quoted broadcasters Radio Pyongyang and Korean Central Radio as saying. The broadcasts cited reports that conservative U.S. lawmaker Jesse Helms was urging the abandonment of the agreement, under which Pyongyang agreed to freeze its nuclear program in return for two light-water reactors and annual supplies of fuel oil. ``If this is the attitude of the United States, we will have to adopt an extreme hard-line stance,'' the broadcast said. ``If the U.S. imperialists demand war, we will respond a thousand-fold. ``If this is the will of the U.S., we feel no particular need to be bound by an agreement that may or may not be fulfilled.'' Difficult Agreement North Korea has for some months now blamed its acute shortage of energy on delays in fulfilling the agreement. Under the terms of the pact, the United States, South Korea and Japan jointly lead the $4.6 billion light-water reactor project. Washington provides the mandated fuel oil. However, progress on the reactors has been hampered by disagreements on how to shoulder the costs. The reactors are unlikely to be completed until 2007. This month, a spokesman for Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said the resulting energy shortage was making it difficult for North Korea unilaterally to keep its moratorium on launching satellites and missiles in force. South Korean (news - web sites) officials said last month they did not expect the Bush administration to seek changes to the agreement. Relations between North Korea and the United States had begun to warm toward the end of Bill Clinton's administration and Clinton nearly went to Pyongyang in his final days in office to seal a deal that would have mothballed the communist state's long range missile program in exchange for better ties with Washington. Bush has made clear that he sees North Korea as a threat. In talks with South Korean leader Kim Dae-jung (news - web sites) this month, Bush pointedly questioned whether Pyongyang's enigmatic leader Kim Jong-il would honor any new arms control pact. Washington views Pyongyang as one of the main exporters of missile technology to the world and U.S. officials regularly cite it as one of the reasons the United States wants to build a missile defense shield to ward off potential attacks. Nevertheless, while denying that it poses any missile threat, Pyongyang said Monday that it would not launch pre-emptive strikes against the United States. ``Regarding our side, we have no intention of launching pre-emptive attacks against the United States,'' said the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper. ``What we want to do is to resolve confrontation between DPRK and the United States and improve relations,'' the daily said, according to Radio Pyongyang monitored in Tokyo. Bush has rehabilitated the expression ``rogue nations'' to describe countries such as North Korea. The term was dropped by the United States after a historic North-South summit last June. In return, North Korea is now turning up the rhetorical heat, threatening to pull out of missile and nuclear accords. Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), monitored in Tokyo, urged all ``anti-imperialist'' forces around the world to ''strengthen their unity and fight against the U.S. imperialists with concerted efforts.'' ``The progressive people of the world should heighten vigilance against the U.S. 'double-faced tactics' and smash it to pieces,'' it said.
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