CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk reports that, according to Ambassador Sin, Pyongyang is prepared to negotiate directly with Washington about Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program: "We are ready, any time," he said.
But the Obama administration has stuck to the framework of the six-party talks. Those negotiations, involving the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the U.S., have been unhinged several times, with Pyongyang returning to the development of its nuclear program and the testing of ballistic missiles.
For North Korea, those negotiations will not restart.
"We have already made our position very clear," Ambassador Sin told CBS. "The six-party talks are gone forever. We will never participate in the six-party talks again. Never again."
Read the whole thing at CBS News
Why no more 6 party talks?
North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Sin, offered Pyongyang's explanation. "We have proceeded very well about denuclearization on our side with what we have agreed upon in the six-party talks, but we were cheated. We were cheated, simply I say, by other parties. The other parties of the six-party talks did not implement what they have agreed, what they promised in the six-party talks. So we do not trust them."
Why they seek nukes?
The most ominous comment, however, was perhaps the explanation of why the North pursues their nuclear program. "We are always exposed to the nuclear threat of the U.S.," Ambassador Sin said. "Japan and South Korea are under the protection of the nuclear umbrella by the United States. And our neighboring countries are all-powerful with nuclear weapons. There is only one country – DPRK – with nuclear vacancy in the region. We are defenseless, so it is our last option – to possess the nuclear deterrent."
