The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is now capable of conducting a Ballistic Missile Test (BMT) flight, but all allegations about when and how the test would be made, were nothing but rumors, a top DPRK official said here Monday.
In an interview with Xinhua, DPRK’s Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon, who is here for the annual high-level UN debate, said he had nothing to hide with respect to his country’s BMT capabilities.
“We sent a satellite into orbit in 1998; we do have the capabilities; there is nothing to hide,” he said. But he denied allegations that his country would test flight ballistic missiles in the near future, saying those reports were just “rumors.”
He highlighted the importance of DPRK’s nuclear power in maintaining regional peace and stability, adding that there will not be any nuclear issue in the Korean Peninsula without US hostile moves.
He noted that the United States was still refusing to remove a list of sanctions imposed on the DPRK, and from removing the DPRK from a list of countries purportedly backing terrorism, even after the DPRK declared unilaterally to freeze all nuke programs, which, according to Choe, had cost his country billions of dollars.
“If the United States has the will to coexist peacefully with the DPRK by abandoning its hostile policy on the DPRK, the nuclear issue will be resolved properly,” he said.
While on the list of the so-called “axis of evil,” the DPRK will always live under the threat of US preemptive nuclear strikes, he noted, highlighting the importance of the DPRK’s nuke power.
He refused to give any detail on the DPRK’s nuclear capacity, only repeating that his country had weaponized some uranium materials.
