N.Korean Official Praises Nuke Program
Pastor Dale Morgan
N.Korean Official Praises Nuke Program*
The Associated Press
Sunday, April 8, 2007; 7:17 AM
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea's defense minister praised the
country's nuclear program Sunday at a meeting of top officials and said
the North had achieved status as a nuclear power.
North Korea "has legitimately ranked itself among the nuclear weapons
states," Vice Marshal Kim Il Chol said at a ceremony marking the 14th
anniversary of leader Kim Jong Il becoming chairman of the country's
National Defense Commission.
The North conducted its first-ever nuclear weapons test in October,
drawing international condemnation. However, Pyongyang pledged initial
steps to abandon its nuclear weapons programs in February during talks
with the U.S. and other regional powers.
Still, no further progress has been made in the standoff due to an
unresolved issue relating to frozen North Korean funds. The February
agreement also did not directly address what will happen to the nuclear
bombs the North is believed to have already produced, as many as a dozen
by some expert estimates.
Kim Il Chol said Sunday that the North's becoming a nuclear power was a
"praiseworthy historic event as it translated into reality the
centuries-old desire of the nation to have national power strong enough
not to allow anyone to dare provoke it," according to a report from the
official Korean Central News Agency.