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UPDATE: North Korea defends its right to peaceful nuclear development

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MOSCOW, September 1 (RIA Novosti, Ivan Zakharchenko) - North Korea does not intend to give up its right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, North Korean Ambassador to Moscow Pak Ui Chun said in an interview with RIA Novosti Thursday. "This is a matter of principal, concerning our sovereign right to nuclear energy and the sovereignty of the state, which we cannot give up in any way," the ambassador said.

Pyongyang's nuclear right is not an issue "over which someone can give or refuse someone else permission," he said.

"The U.S. denial of our sovereign right displays a logic that contradicts the official declaration of 'acknowledging the sovereignty of North Korea.'"

North Korea insists that in order to resolve the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula, South Korea must invite inspectors, and "prove their declaration of the absence of nuclear weapons on South Korean territory and provide guarantees that they will not import them or produce them."

The carrying out of inspections can be officially discussed through the six-nation talks in Beijing involving Russia, North Korea, the U.S., South Korea, China, and Japan, he said. The next round of talks is scheduled for mid-September.

Pyongyang is also insisting on a guarantee from the U.S. that it has not placed any nuclear weapons in South Korea.

Both Washington and Seoul have stated on several occasions that there are no nuclear weapons in South Korea.

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