North Korea is demanding that the United States recognize it as a de-facto nuclear power, accusing Washington of hypocrisy by overlooking Israel's sus
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
North Korea is demanding that the United States recognize it as a de-facto nuclear power, accusing Washington of hypocrisy by overlooking Israel's suspected possession of atomic weapons.
The North's official newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Sunday said resolution of the standoff over its nuclear programs will be possible "only when the US gives up the unfair and prejudiced double standards."
"The US has connived at and even cooperated with Israel in its development and production of nukes and kept mum about Japan, which has stepped up its moves to emerge (as) a nuclear power after stockpiling (more) plutonium than it actually needs," it said in a commentary carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency.
Communist North Korea demanded that Washington treat it as it does other countries which possess nuclear weapons but have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT, a global agreement on controlling the spread of nuclear weapons.
North Korea has long been suspected of possessing several nuclear weapons in addition to enough material to make several more. In February this year, it claimed it had built atomic weapons, although the claim could not be verified independently.