Seoul, Sept 03: North Korea's rubber-stamp Parliament today approved the communist government's decision to increase "nuclear deterrent force" in angry reaction to what it calls a hostile US policy. The North's Supreme People's Assembly also "considered as just" the North Korean foreign ministry announcement last week that North Korea no longer had "interest or expectations" for future talks on its nuclear programme, said the North's official news agency.
The agency also reported that the Parliament "decided to take relevant measures." The news agency did not elaborate. North Korea's envoy to the six-nation talks in Beijing on the North's nuclear crisis last week warned that North Korea might test a nuclear device to prove itself a nuclear power, according to a us official who spoke on condition of anonymity last week.
Last week, representatives from the United States, the two Koreas, Japan, China and Russia met in Beijing to discuss ways to end the nuclear crisis. After the meeting, China, North Korea's only remaining major ally, released a statement saying all six countries agreed to continue to talk. A day after the three-day Beijing meeting ended on Friday, however, North Korea's foreign ministry angrily dismissed the need for more talks and threatened to keep and strengthen its "nuclear deterrent force," casting doubt on the prospects for future meetings. Bureau Report