Yonhap News:
North Korea said Thursday that it will stick to its nuclear weapons program as Republican Donald Trump is set to become the next president of the United States.
North Korea’s state media did not release comments on Trump’s surprise victory. But the North, in what could be viewed as a warning message, made clear that the incoming administration will face a heavier burden in dealing with a nuke-armed North Korea.
“Washington’s hope for North Korea’s denuclearization is an outdated illusion,” Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s main newspaper, said in a commentary.
The newspaper condemned U.S. President Barack Obama’s “strategic patience” policy with North Korea, saying that the policy has only left bigger burdens to his successor as Pyongyang has become a nuclear state.
The U.S. focuses on applying pressure and sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear and missile provocations, saying that Pyongyang should first show sincere commitment to denuclearization if dialogue is to proceed.
North Korea has claimed that it needs to develop and maintain a nuclear arsenal as a deterrence against what it calls Washington’s hostile policy toward Pyongyang.
Trump has not clearly unveiled his vision for the North Korean policy, but he expressed his willingness to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his election campaign period.
In June, North Korea’s propaganda website hailed Trump’s claim that South Korea should pay more for the upkeep of American troops on its soil.
Experts said that North Korea may refrain from conducting another nuclear test or launching a long-range rocket until it can gauge the direction of Trump’s North Korea policy.
“North Korea would seek to have dialogue with Washington as long as the next U.S. administration does not take a hawkish stance toward the North’s nuclear issue,” said Kim Dong-yup, a professor at the Institute for Far East Studies of Kyungnam University….
