N. Korea Nuclear Affirmation Fuels Doubt Over Call for Talks

North Korea affirmed its commitment to nuclear weapons in a statement that attacked South Korea’s leader, fueling skepticism over the regime’s claim it wants to return to dialogue over its atomic program.

The north is demonstrating its might as a “military power and nuclear weapons state envied by world people and feared by enemies,” the official Korea Central News Agency said May 25. The rest of the statement was directed at South Korean President Park Geun Hye, saying she had behaved “coquettishly” and “kicked up confrontation hysteria.”