U.S. rules out possibility of recognizing DPRK as nuclear-weapon state

WASHINGTON, April 21 (Xinhua) -- The United States said on Wednesday that it would not accept the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a nuclear-weapon country, urging Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks process.

"We will not accept North Korea as a nuclear-weapon state. Its current path is a dead end," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley, referring to the DPRK's demand for "an equal footing with other nuclear weapons states."

Pyongyang on Wednesday issued a memorandum on the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula, voicing willingness to join "the international nuclear disarmament effort" if it would be recognized as an official nuclear-weapon state.

"If it comes constructively back to the six-party process, then there are opportunities available to North Korea for a different relationship with the United States. ... But they cannot expect a different relationship until they take specific actions first," said Crowley.

In the recent "Nuclear Posture Review," the Obama administration failed to rule out the use of nuclear weapons against countries like the DPRK, which withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) regime in January 2003.

In a statement released on April 9, a spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry denounced the "Nuclear Posture Review" as pouring cold water on restoring the six-party talks.

The spokesman said the DPRK developed nuclear weapons for the purpose of "deterring the U.S. attack and defending its sovereignty and right to existence." The country has so far " sincerely implemented its international obligation as a responsible nuclear weapons state."

Pyongyang quit the six-party nuclear disarmament talks, which also involved the United States, China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Russia, in April 2009 in anger over international criticism of its long-range rocket test.