North Korean Ambassador to Tehran visits ILNA

North Korean Ambassador to Tehran Kang Sam Hyon met ILNA Executive Manager Massoud Heydari and denounced US- South Korea joint drills which aim to threat soverginity of North Korea.

It is half a month since Kim Chol, a citizen of the DPRK bearing a diplomatic passport, died in Malaysia on Feb. 13.

The cause of his death has not yet been clearly identified but the US and the South Korean authorities are groundlessly blaming the DPRK, asserting that he was intoxicated by highly poisonous VX nerve substance.

The absurdity of the US and the South Korean authorities' assertion and lack of its scientific accuracy and logical coherence are proven even by comments made by experts and media of other countries.

It is view of chemists of many countries that even a drop of VX may claim death of tens or hundreds of people and it has strong permeability and stability as its properties. They asserted a claim that the woman suspect was safe because she washed her hands at a washroom does not correspond with the chemical property of VX. They added that even if the persons suspected of murder has been injected with atropine, basic antidote of VX, they might have fallen into chock and that even if they had worn gloves, this fatal substance would have been extremely dangerous. It is, therefore, the height of absurdity to claim that the person who applied VX, a substance fatal to the life even in case of inhalation of a tiny amount of it or its touch of skin, was left unaffected and the person to whom it was applied met a death, they asserted.

World media query that if component of VX was allegedly detected from Kim Chol's eyes and lips, the ambulance that carried him and police who guarded him must have all been intoxicated and if so, the airport should have been closed but it is still in operation.

Experts on international law and analysts said that under a regulation of the international organization on ban on chemical weapons, a final conclusion on the results of analysis of chemical weapons can be drawn only on the basis of the identical results of analysis made by at least two specialized laboratories, stressing that the recent case should have been reported to the organization and the relevant sample should have been analyzed at a lab designated by the organization. They further contended if the use of VX were true, it would be necessary to probe where the substance was from, who made it and who handed it. Drawing any conclusion about VX without any concrete study would be unscientific and if some countries try to use it for other political purposes, the consequences will be beyond imagination, they warned.

Some media suspect that in view of the fact that the women arrested as suspected murderess had visited South Korea several times in the past, it is highly possible that the South Korean authorities let them carry the said substance. This is by no means fortuitous.

Almost all countries have scrapped chemical weapons under the convention on ban on chemical weapons but only the US and some other countries still possess the said substance. What is all the more problematic is the fact that the US is introducing into South Korea all kinds of chemical weapons.

This being a hard fact, the US and the South Korean authorities are kicking up an anti-DPRK smear campaign, groundlessly pulling it up.

From the beginning the South Korean authorities spread rumor that the "death of Kim Chol was intoxication by two women secret agents sent by General Reconnaissance Bureau of North Korea" and "their dead bodies will appear", causing confusion and driving a wedge between the DPRK and Malaysia.

Lately they tried to use Kim Chol's death for their stepped- up racket of "human rights" against the DPRK and flowted the story about "use of chemical weapons" or "use of WMD" by someone in a bid to create atmosphere of "international criticsm" of the DPRK.

The reckless moves of the US and the South Korean authorities are aimed to meet the dangerous political purpose to tarnish the image of the dignified DPRK and bring down the social system in it. This is clear to everyone.

The danger and gravity of the problem lie in that the story about "use of chemical weapons" touted by the US and the South Korean authorities has something in common with the story of "Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction" spread by the US in the 1990s.

It is the final aim south by the US to stir up international repugnancy toward the DPRK, lay on international siege for putting pressure on it and provoke a nuclear war against the DPRK at any cost.

The US however, is mistaken.

Should the US and the South Korean authorities keep resorting to political chicanery to bring down the social system in the DPRK, being lost to reasons, the DPRK will be compelled to take stronger measures for self defense in order to protect the sovereignty and dignity of the country.

The US and its vassal forces should not run amuck, clearly understanding the strategic position of the DPRK as a nuclear power.  

North Korea has called for the return of the body of his citizen and stop politicizing the issue. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A citizen of the DPRK bearing a diplomatic passport suddenly fell into a state of shock before boarding an airliner and died on the way to a hospital in Malaysia on February 13.

At that time the Foreign Ministry of Malaysia and the hospital side informed the DPRK embassy in Kuala Lumpur exercising the right to consular protection of DPRK scitizens that they confimed he died of heart stroke and decided to transfer his body to the embassy and get it cremated.

So the DPRK embassy confirmed his identity and asked the Malaysian side to transfer his body.

However, no sooner had South Korean conservative media published a false report that he was "poisoned to death", citing it as "source from the government" that night, than the Malaysian secret police got involved in the case and recklessly made it an established fact, only to make matters complicated.

The DPRK embassy made it clear that autopsy is not necessary as his death had already been confirmed as the one due to heart stroke and autopsy should never be done as he enjoed extraterritorial right according to the Vienna Convention as a carrier of diplomatic passport.

Nevertheless, the Malaysian side, in disregard of the DPRK's just demand and international law, made an autopsy of the body without any prior agreement with the DPRK side and its presence. Moreover, the Malaysian side clamored for the second autopsy without publishing the results of the first autopsy.

A spokesman for the Korean Jusists Committee in a statement on Wednesday termed this undisguised encroachment upon the sovereignty of the DPRK, a wanton human rights abuse and an act contrary to human ethics and morality.

The statements said:

What merits more serious attention is the fact that the unjust acts of the Malaysian side are timed to coincide with the anti-DPRK conspiratorial racket launched by the South Korean authorities.

Conservative media of South Korea began spreading wild rumors that the DPRK citizen was "poisoned to death by two women agents of the General Reconnaissance Bureau of North Korea" and it is undoubtedly its "deed" before the results of the autopsy were published.  

On February 14, a day after his death, Chongwadae of South Korea kicked up a fuss over it and the South Korean authorities were busy holding a ministerial meeting on February 16, showing an excessive response. Moreover, they openly discussed the issue of THAAD deployment though it has nothing to do with the death of a DPRK citizen.

This proves that the South Korean authorities have long expected the case since it worked out a scenario for it.

It is, indeed, regretful that only Malaysia is denying such fact.

The biggest responsibility for his death rests with the government of Malaysia as the citizen of the DPRK died in its land.

The unfriendly attitude of the Malaysian side found a more striking manifestation in the matter of transferring his body to the DPRK side.

Malaysia is obliged to had his body to the DPRK side as it made an autopsy and forensic examination of it in an illegal and immoral manner. However, it has not yet handed the body under the absurd pretext that it cannot do so unless the family of the deceased presents a DNA sample in accordance with its law.

This proves that the Malaysian side is going to politicize the transfer of the body in utter disregard of international law and morality and thus attain a sinister purpose.

In early days when the incident happened Malaysia widely publicized that it arrested suspected persons but now keep mum about it.

What sounds more alarming is that the suspected persons allegedly stated that the DPRK citizen was poisoned to death when "oil like lotion was put on his head with their hands." That means the woman survived even after having poison on her hand while leaving only the poisoned man dead.

The DPRK has already proposed a joint investigation for properly probing the incident and clarified that it is ready to dispatch a delegation of its jurists.

Its aim is to meet the suspected persons and hear their statements, confirm who ordered them and meet the arrested citizen and survey in detail the scene of the incident and its video footage and thus conclude the investigation into the incident in a fair way.

The DPRK will never allow any attempt to tarnish the image of the dignified power of independence and nuclear weapons state but make a thorough probe into the truth behind the case.

It will watch the future attitude of the Malaysian side. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) issued the following statement Thursday as the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet warmongers kicked off joint military exercises for aggression against the DPRK on Wednesday:

The largest-ever war drills will reportedly be staged by unprecedentedly huge aggressor forces including the U.S. imperialist forces present in south Korea, reinforced U.S. forces from overseas, south Korean puppet troops and forces of various vassal states. To be involved in this muscle-flexing are various type strategic assets such as striking groups of U.S. nuclear carriers Ronald Reagan and Carl Vinson, nuclear submarines, nuclear strategic bombers, stealth fighters and Aegis destroyers.

    Lots of U.S. war operation groups and nuclear strike means deployed in south Korea and in its vicinity have already begun moving to the positions for invasion of the north.

    The enemies openly announced that Key Resolve and Foal Eagle this year would involve rehearsals for putting into a more concrete shape the 4D operation for preemptive attack on the DPRK and, at the same time, drills under the simulated conditions of deployment of THAAD.

The above-said saber-rattling assumes ever-growing danger as it is under way after the U.S. imperialists secretly introduced at least 6 million tons of ammunition and war hardware into south Korea from the end of last year and took recently even the measure for urgent evacuation of families of U.S. forces in south Korea and those with U.S. citizenship staying there.

In view of the prevailing grave situation the General Staff of the KPA clarifies the following principled stand of the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK:

1. Now that the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces again kicked off the dangerous nuclear war drills against the DPRK at its doorstep, our army will counter them with the toughest counteractions as it had already declared.

This stand of ours clarified before the world is by no means an empty talk.

2. Should the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces fire even a single shell into the waters where the sovereignty of our Republic is exercised, the KPA will immediately launch its merciless military counter-actions.

They should not forget that our revolutionary armed forces have everything in place and are always on alert.

3. The forces of vassal countries will be targets of our strikes as they are imprudently involved in the on-going saber-rattling, toeing the U.S. imperialists' hostile policy towards the DPRK.

They have to bear in mind that those lackeys have always met a miserable fate for recklessly running wild, backed by their master.

The KPA will mercilessly foil the nuclear war racket of the aggressors with its treasured nuclear sword of justice.