N Korea blasts US over fuel stoppage

The US says North Korea must disarm

North Korea has accused the US of violating a 1994 anti-nuclear agreement with its decision to suspend deliveries of fuel oil.

It was North Korea's first official response since the US and its allies last week decided to suspend fuel supplies as a penalty for the Stalinist state's reported admission that it has developed nuclear weapons.

It is high time to decide upon who is to blame for the collapse of the framework

North Korean foreign ministry statement

In the 1994 pact, North Korea agreed to halt production of nuclear weapons in return for the US and its allies providing fuel oil and building two light-water reactors for power generation.

The North Korean foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that Pyongyang regarded the suspension of oil deliveries as "a wanton violation" of the accord.

"Now that the US unilaterally gave up its last commitment under the framework, the DPRK (North Korea) acknowledges that it is high time to decide upon who is to blame for the collapse of the framework," a North Korean spokesman was quoted as saying by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Mixed messages

The US said North Korea admitted to US special envoy James Kelly last month that it had a programme for producing highly enriched uranium - a key ingredient in nuclear weapons.

However, North Korea has not publicly admitted to any nuclear programme.

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At the weekend a North Korean radio broadcast appeared to acknowledge for the first time that the country did indeed have nuclear weapons. But it later appeared a key phrase may have been misheard by monitors, leading to the statement being misinterpreted.

A transcript of the broadcast which was published in a North Korean newspaper seen by reporters on Thursday, said only that North Korea was "entitled" to have nuclear weapons.

That reasserted North Korea's previous official position, and implies that the country has still refused to confirm or deny whether it has nuclear weapons.

The US and its allies believe North Korea has enough nuclear material to make at least two nuclear weapons.

The US has ruled out any talks unless North Korea first scraps its weapons programme. But Pyongyang is demanding that the US first sign a non-aggression pact.

North Korea on Thursday accused South Korea of working with Washington to raise tensions.

It blamed South Korea for an incident on Wednesday in which South Korea fired warning shots on a North Korean boat that it accused of crossing a disputed maritime border.

"The reckless provocation committed by the South Korean warship in broad daylight cannot be construed otherwise than a deliberate and pre-meditated move of the South Korean military to aggravate the military tensions between the North and the South," said a navy statement carried on KCNA.