CONCLUSION OF PEACE TREATY IS PREREQUISITE TO SOLVING KOREAN PENINSULA ISSUE

Pyongyang, October 26 (KCNA) -- The statement of the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK which clarified the principled stand of the DPRK to replace the Korean Armistice Agreement with a peace treaty is evoking a lively response in the world.

Reuters, AFP and a radio broadcasting service of France, Vietnamese newspapers Nhan Dan and Quan Doi Nhan Dan and other media of many countries are reporting the statement every day under the titles "North Korea rejects dialogue proposed by U.S. and south Korea on condition of nuclear dismantlement, asserts conclusion of a peace treaty" and "DPRK Foreign Ministry in a statement urges the U.S. to come out for conclusion of a peace treaty".

This is a vivid expression of the active support and solidarity by the world peace-loving people with the fair and aboveboard proposal of the DPRK to remove the danger of a war and create a peaceful environment on the Korean Peninsula by concluding a peace treaty between the DPRK and the U.S. at an early date.

The DPRK has consistently called for replacing the AA with a peace treaty, considering the present AA would not help hold off armed conflict and the outbreak of a new war.

The DPRK recently re-clarified the above-said stand on the basis of a serious lesson it had drawn from the situation which prevailed on the peninsula in last August.

A minor accidental case pushed the situation to the brink of a war. This finally proved that the present AA would never check conflict and war and that what is a prerequisite to ensuring environment for lasting peace on the peninsula is to conclude a peace treaty between the DPRK and the U.S.

The conclusion of the peace treaty presents itself as a top priority task for settling the Korean issue also because long-standing efforts for dialogue for the denuclearization of the peninsula ended without success.

Taking into consideration the stand of the parties concerned for discussing the denuclearization issue before anything else in the past, the DPRK took part in the negotiations 

for handling the denuclearization at the six-party talks first and also discussed the nuclear issue and the issue of ensuring peace at the same time. But all efforts proved futile and even though partial agreements were reached, they were not put into practice.

The U.S. is persistently pursuing its hostile policy toward the DPRK, escalating the tension on the peninsula through ever more undisguised military provocations.

Even at this time when the DPRK clarified its stand for concluding a peace treaty, the U.S. staged large-scale combined naval exercises with the south Korean navy by bringing nuclear carrier Ronald Reagan, cruisers and Aegis destroyers to the waters off Pusan.

Despite its persistent nuclear blackmail and nuclear war exercises against the DPRK, the U.S. urges the DPRK to come out to a negotiating table after scrapping its nuclear program, claiming the denuclearization is a priority. This is a brigandish logic and sophism that can be let loose by aggressors only.

The U.S. is now standing against the conclusion of a peace treaty and increasing the tension on the peninsula, prompted by its hegemonic ambition for the region.

The U.S. undisguised hostile policy toward the DPRK, ceaseless large-scale joint military exercises and the introduction of nuclear strike means into south Korea are causing an evil cycle of confrontation and escalation of tension on the peninsula. This is sparking off arms race and ratcheting up tension in the Asia-Pacific region.

Andrei Ivanov, expert of Moscow State International Relations' University of Russia, when interviewed by media said: All rackets targeting Pyongyang are pursuant to the U.S. aim to boost military muscle in the Asia-Pacific and build a missile shield with the nuclear threat from North Korea as a pretext. What matters is not Pyongyang but Washington's ambition targeting Beijing and Moscow.

This is by no means accidental.

All this proves that the denuclearization of the peninsula touted by the U.S. is nothing but an empty talk just as it was before and that the conclusion of a peace treaty between the DPRK and the U.S. is the wisest solution to the issue.

Unless a priority is given to the conclusion of a peace treaty with the U.S., chief criminal responsible for the escalation of tension on the peninsula, it would be impossible to ensure genuine and lasting peace on the peninsula nor would it be possible to solve any other issues of interest of the countries concerned including the U.S.

The U.S. should no longer resort to the racket of "nuclear dismantlement of the north" and nuclear confrontation but seriously respond to the crucial proposal for replacing the AA with a peace treaty at an early date.