N-Korean H-bomb test cites Libya, Iraq status quo as justification examples

Russia Today

North Korea has hailed its newly-developed “miniaturized thermonuclear bomb”, allegedly tested this week, as a weapon of stability that will serve as a deterrent against any invasion that could set the nation on the same path as Libya or Iraq.

The communist state said that “indigenous efforts and technology” helped the nation join the family of nuclear states, capable of defending their sovereignty and deterring “hostile” forces from possible invasions.

“The H-bomb test conducted by the DPRK was a measure for self-defence to thoroughly protect the sovereignty of the country and vital rights of the nation from the daily-growing nuclear threat and blackmail by the hostile forces and reliably guarantee peace on the Korean Peninsula and security of the region,” a statement published by the state KCNA news agency said.

The statement claims that developing a nuclear weapon was necessary to protect against US interference in North Korean affairs. History has shown that the international relations are governed by the “jungle law”, which allows the US and its partners to make “weak countries their scapegoats through their high-handed military actions.”

Pyongyang called nuclear deterrence the “strongest treasured sword” in protecting peace and security. Referencing the US-led NATO interventions in Iraq in 2003 and in Libya in 2011, the North argued that the possession of nuclear weapons by those countries at the time could have averted their demise.

“The Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq and the Gaddafi regime in Libya could not escape the fate of destruction after being deprived of their foundations for nuclear development and giving up nuclear programs of their own accord, yielding to the pressure of the US and the West keen on their regime changes,” the statement postulated, adding that a “bitter lesson” should be drawn from those events.

Responding to widespread international condemnation of Wednesday nuclear test, Pyongyang said that it would be “foolish” to demand that the DPRK scrap its nuclear program or halt its further development.

The North has agreed to consider scrapping the nuclear program only if the “US rolls back its outrageous hostile policy toward the DPRK and imperialist aggression forces give up their infringement upon sovereignty by use of force in the international arena.”

The UN Security Council earlier this week unanimously condemned North Korea’s most recent nuclear test which was carried out Wednesday. While Pyongyang claimed to have tested a new thermonuclear bomb, experts agreed that the device tested was an atomic bomb similar to those present in three previous tests.