SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea escalated its confrontation with the U.S. on Friday, saying it is moving to restore a nuclear reactor and warning that it “will go its own way” because Washington refuses to remove it from the U.S. terrorism blacklist.
The announcement was the communist regime’s first confirmation it has started undoing the dismantlement of its nuclear program begun in November under an atomic disarmament deal that promised energy aid.
Pyongyang blamed Washington for the turnaround, saying the U.S. refusal to remove North Korea from a list of states that sponsor terrorism violated the agreement by the U.S., the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia.
North Korea’s stand focuses on U.S. insistence that Pyong yang accept a plan for international verification of its June report on nuclear facilities. The North rejected the demand as an attempt to unilaterally disarm the country.
“Now that the United States’ true colors have been brought to light, we neither wish nor expect to be delisted as a ‘state sponsor of terrorism,’ ” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the country’s official news agency, KCNA.
North Korea “will go its own way,” it warned. The Associated Press
