By RIA Novosti
Moscow : North Korea warned Washington on Friday that its allegations over uranium enrichment by Pyongyang could have grave consequences for the continuing disablement of its atomic facilities.
The North’s Foreign Ministry said that Pyongyang had attempted to allay U.S. suspicions that it possessed a uranium-based atomic bomb program and that it had passed on nuclear technology to Syria, but that the U.S. was clinging to its “incorrect” claims.
“If the United States continues delaying the resolution of the nuclear problem by demanding what does not exist, this will have a serious impact on the desired disablement of the nuclear facilities,” a North Korean Foreign Ministry official said in a statement circulated by Pyongyang’s official mouthpiece, the Korean Central News Agency.
Washington has long suspected the North of pursuing a secret uranium enrichment program and of aiding Syria in the nuclear sphere. Talks in Geneva last fall failed to help the countries resolve the issues, with the U.S. refusing to strike Pyongyang off its blacklist of nations sponsoring terrorism.
Pyongyang started disabling its Yongbyon nuclear plant late last year as part of a deal with the U.S., China, Russia, Japan and South Korea in exchange for economic aid and diplomatic incentives. The Communist state is also to make a full account of its nuclear facilities and arsenals.
North Korea claims it supplied the U.S. with the required ‘nuclear list’ in November. However, Washington has said the list was neither “complete” nor “correct.”
On Friday, North Korea test-launched a number of short-range missiles off its west coast into the Yellow Sea. Pyongyang said the launches were part of a routine military exercise. Such launches are often used by the North to make political points.
The launches came a day after 11 South Korean government officials were expelled from a joint industrial complex in the North by Pyongyang.
South Korea’s new government has recently moved to take a tougher stance in disarmament talks with the North, linking joint projects to progress in nuclear negotiations