Pyongyang, September 30 (KCNA) -- It is the consistent stand of the DPRK government to ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and push forward its denuclearization through dialogue and negotiations. DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Pak Kil Yon who is heading the DPRK delegation said this in a speech at the 66th UNGA session on Sept. 28.

What the DPRK and the Korean people most urgently require is a stable and peaceful environment as they are channeling all efforts into economic construction, he said, and went on:

It is to be regretted that a solid and durable peace mechanism has not yet been built on the Korean Peninsula.

The national division imposed upon the Koreans by outside forces and the state of ceasefire, neither war nor peace, have lasted for over half a century. This is the reality of the peninsula.

There continue arms buildup and nuclear war exercises against the DPRK on the peninsula and in its vicinity despite the unanimous aspiration and wishes of the people at home and abroad aspiring after peace and stability. Therefore, the situation on the eve of war is being created in the peninsula periodically.

But for the Songun politics pursued by leader Kim Jong Il and the powerful war deterrent of the DPRK, a war would have broken out on the peninsula several times and peaceful economic construction would not have been imaginable there.

The present situation on the peninsula requires the parties concerned to take an opportunity of dialogue and make a bold decision to settle fundamental issues.

Underlying the continued tensions on the peninsula is the hostile relations between the DPRK and the U.S., the root cause of distrust and confrontation.

It is impossible to defuse mutual distrust and confrontation nor is it possible to find a smooth solution to the issue of the denuclearization of the peninsula as long as there remain the hostile relations between the DPRK and the U.S., the signatories of the Armistice Agreement, in which they level guns at each other.

That was why the DPRK proposed again to have talks to replace the AA with a peace treaty last year.

The conclusion of the peace treaty would be a process for implementing the resolution adopted at the 30th UNGA Session in 1975. This will serve as the most effective step for building confidence to wipe distrust between the DPRK and the U.S. and, furthermore, a motive force guaranteeing the denuclearization of the peninsula.

The denuclearization of the peninsula stipulated in the September 19, 2005, joint statement calls for turning the whole Korean Peninsula into a nuclear-free zone on the basis of completely defusing in a verifiable manner the potential nuclear threat to the peninsula from outside.

The nuclear issue of the peninsula was a product of the U.S. hostile policy and nuclear war threat to the DPRK from A to Z. It is, therefore, the U.S. which has the responsibility and capacity to remove its root cause. Had the U.S. not threatened the DPRK with nuclear weapons after introducing them to the peninsula, the nuclear issue would not have surfaced.

The peninsula is standing at the crossroads of detente and vicious cycle of increasing tension. Under this situation the U.S. would be well advised to boldly roll back its hostile policy toward the DPRK and opt for comprehensive dialogue with a long-term and strategic judgment.

The DPRK will in the future, too, make painstaking efforts to build a solid and durable peace mechanism on the Korean Peninsula and continue cooperating with the parties concerned to resume the six-party talks without preconditions.