North Korea issues strong response to recent South Korea and U.S. actions

北매체 "남북대화 실현하려면 분위기부터 조성해야"

North Korea has responded to moves by South Korea and the U.S. to rid the regime of it nuclear weapons, saying that making denuclearization a condition for talks is a non-starter.
Strong criticism, also, of Washington's ban on Americans traveling to North Korea.
Kwon Jang-ho reports.
North Korea has criticized South Korea's efforts to try and denuclearize the regime.
On the state-sponsored news website Uriminzokkiri on Friday, a statement slammed Seoul's plans to have a nuclear-free peninsula by 2020.
It was part of the Moon administration's 5-year policy agenda announced last month.
The statement called it reckless, and defended Pyongyang's nuclear weapons as a "righteous option for self-defense" against the U.S.
It added that having the "nuclear issue" as a precondition for improving inter-Korean relations will never work.
The statement also called President Moon's Berlin Declaration in July -- where he declared he would try to engage in dialogue with the regime to end border hostilities and re-start separated family reunions -- as an intolerable insult to the North.
However, the statement makes no direct reference to those offers of talks, and therefore has not been considered a response, which Seoul is still waiting for.

Meanwhile, Pyongyang has also slammed the U.S. for its ban on travel to the regime, which comes into effect next month.
In a statement released by the state-run Korea Central News Agency, Pyongyang has called the move "a dirty scheme to prevent U.S. citizens from seeing North Korea as it is" and that it shows that Washington views the regime as an enemy.
The travel ban comes in reaction to the death of a U.S. student, Otto Warmbier, who was detained by the North Korean authorities for 17 months before being sent back to the U.S. in a comatose state in June.
The circumstances of his detainment and subsequent injuries still remain unclear.
Kwon Jang-ho, Arirang News.

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