The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday said that "the U.S. is now spreading in the countries around the DPRK the rumor that 'chain reaction' may occur in Japan and South Korea unless the DPRK's access to nukes is checked."

Sin Son Ho, DPRK's permanent representative to the United Nations, made the remarks as he was reading a prepared statement at an office of the DPRK Mission.

"The rumor has it that the DPRK's access to nukes may prompt Japan and South Korea to go nuclear, fearful of its 'threat'," the statement said.

"When a country is exposed to very potential and serious nuclear threats and when it finds no other way to cope with them, it is compelled to have access to nukes as its last resort," the statement said. "Japan and South Korea have long been under the U. S. 'nuclear umbrella'."

"It's the last option to possess the nukes," he said.

On July 6, the UN Security Council condemned the recent ballistic missile launches by the DPRK, urging the northeast Asian country to fully comply with its obligations and relevant UN resolutions.

"No one will believe the claims of Japan and South Korea that they are exposed to 'nuclear threat' as they are under the ' nuclear umbrella' of the U.S. which tops the world's list of nuclear weapons," the DPRK ambassador said.

"The DPRK has never been provided with any nuclear umbrella by outsiders to cope with the U.S. nuclear threat," he said.

"The arithmetic logic that Japan and South Korea may go nuclear because the DPRK has had access to nukes is an expression of ignorance of those who are bereft of an elementary sense," he said. "This is only part of a clumsy psychological warfare launched against the DPRK's access to nukes."

On the question of the Six-Party Talks, the ambassador said, " we have already made it clear that the Six-Party Talks has gone forever. We will never return to it."

"We were cheated, simply I say, by other parties. The other parties of the Six-Party Talks did not implement what they have agreed and promised in the Six-Party Talks. They continue in this behavior of course.. so we could not trust them any longer," he said. "Whatever agreement, whatever promise they gave us, they always cheated. That's why we gave up the Six-Party Talks participation."

However, he said, "we are not against the dialogue. We are ready," without elaborating on it.

Asked about the inspection of the DPRK cargo ships under relevant Security Council resolutions, the ambassador said: "Any forced inspection of our ship will be seen as a violation of our sovereignty and we'll react, if it happens."

But he did not give any further details about how his country will react.

Meanwhile, the ambassador slammed as "rumors" that the DPRK is going to close down its mission to the United Nations, saying his country will "absolutely" remain in the 192-member world body.

"Absolutely, we are a member of the United Nations," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2009)