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North Korea seeks China help on treaty with U.S., or more tests: source

12 January 2016 01:25 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. North Korea is seeking a peace treaty with the United States, China and South Korea to formally end the Korean War and will not stop its nuclear tests until it gets one, a person who relayed that message from North Korea to China told Reuters, APA reports quoting Reuters.

North Korea announced on Wednesday it carried out its fourth nuclear test since 2006, drawing threats of more sanctions, although United States and weapons experts doubted Pyongyang's claim that the device was a hydrogen bomb.

The test has again raised questions among world powers about what can be done to stop the North's nuclear weapons program.

The source, who has contacts in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and provided exclusive details about the preparations for the first nuclear test in 2006, said the tests would go on until the North's demand for a treaty was met.

"North Korea will do it to the end until China and the United States want to sign a peace treaty," said the source, who declined to be identified.

The 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, signed by the United States, representing U.N. forces, the North Korean military and the Chinese army.

Now North Korea wants those three sides and South Korea to sign a treaty.

"This explosion is mainly for the United States to see. The main objective is to persuade the United States to enter into four-country negotiations to end the war so that there can be everlasting peace on the Korean peninsula," the source said.

North Korea has repeatedly said it wants a peace treaty to formally end the war, which it says will give it the security it needs, given what it sees as a hostile United States intent on "regime change" in Pyongyang.

The United States and China have both dangled the prospect of better ties, including the lifting of sanctions and eventually a likely peace treaty, if North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons.

But North Korea believes the United States will only negotiate if Pyongyang can demonstrate its strength through its weapons. With its demand for a treaty ignored, North Korea has continued to develop its nuclear weapons and a stalemate has ensued.