North Korea vows to expand nuclear deterrent; says US ‘hostile’

SEOUL - North Korea stepped up its attacks against Washington Friday as a senior US envoy was due to arrive in South Korea for talks and vowed to expand its nuclear deterrent.

Pyongyang’s foreign ministry accused US President Barack Obama of pursuing a ‘hostile’ policy against the Stalinist state, accusations also levelled against Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush.

‘There is nothing to be gained by sitting down together with a party that continues to view us with hostility,’ a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by North Korea’s state-run media.

‘The study of the policy pursued by the Obama administration for the past 100 days since its emergence made it clear that the hostile policy toward North Korea remains unchanged,’ he said.

As previously stated, North Korea would bolster its nuclear deterrent, he added.

The remarks came as Stephen Bosworth, the US special envoy for North Korea is holding talks in the region to review ways to revive international talks on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.

Following talks in Beijing, Bosworth is to arrive in South Korea later Friday, before travelling to Japan and Russia, the other stakeholders in the six-party talks.

The communist country quit the six-party talks in April after the UN Security Council criticised its recent rocket launch and threatened new nuclear and missile tests, should the Council fail to immediately apologise for its criticism.