JCP Ichida: N-Korea's nuclear development program violates 'Japan-DPRK Pyongyang Declaration'

At the news that North Korea has admitted that it has a nuclear weapons program, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi published the following comment on October 17:

The U.S. State Department on October 16 announced that North Korea recently admitted to conducting a nuclear-weapons development program to visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James A. Kelly.

If this is true, it goes against Asian and world people's wish for peace on the Korean Peninsula. It's also in violation of the 1994 U.S.-DPRK "Agreed Framework" on nuclear weapons and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty of which North Korea itself is a member country.

What is more, it will run counter to the "Japan-DPRK Pyongyang Declaration" that stipulates "Both sides confirmed that, for an overall resolution of the nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula, they would comply with all related international agreements." The JCP demands that the issue of North Korea's nuclear development be resolved through negotiations that will take place with a view to normalizing Japan-North Korea relations. (end)