The United States should accept the package solution proposed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on the basis of the principle of simultaneous actions, if it truly stands for a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue, said DPRK newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, in a signed commentary Friday. 

 

The commentary accused the United States of "double-dealing tactics" in tackling the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

 

While urging a diplomatic and peaceful solution to the nuclear issue, the commentary noted, the United States has, however, aired a string of provocative remarks that the "nuclear crisis in north Korea was an issue that might be referred to the United Nations Security Council and it might prompt the SC to discuss the possibility of sanctions against it," and that "Washington hoped that north Korea would solve the crisis over its nuclear program diplomatically."

 

It is nothing but a base trick to twist the nature of the nuclear issue so the United States could assert that the DPRK-US nuclear issue remains unsolved due to the DPRK's fault, the commentary pointed out.

 

The nuclear issue is a direct product of the US hostile policy toward the DPRK, said the commentary. And the situation deteriorated as the United States threatened the DPRK, a non-nuclear state, with nukes and attempted to mount a preemptive nuclear attack on it.

 

The United States has delayed and obstructed a solution to the nuclear issue, by insisting that "the DPRK should abandon its nuclear program first," the commentary said.

 

Whether or not the United States accepts the DPRK-proposed package solution based on the principle of simultaneous actions is a touchstone of whether it is seeking a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue, it said.

 

The United States should drop its double-dealing tactics and take an honest approach, the commentary added.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2004)