US says its policy to rid NKorea of nukes won’t change based on the North’s leadership process
By APThursday, September 30, 2010
US says its NKorea policy not ‘personality based’
WASHINGTON — The United States says that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s promotion of his youngest son to a position of power doesn’t change Washington’s goal of getting the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Thursday that U.S. policy toward North Korea isn’t “personality based.” He says nothing is different just because North Korean leader Kim Jong Il this week made his son Kim Jong Un a four-star general and gave him important political posts aimed at an eventual succession.
Crowley also dismissed a vow by Pyongyang to strengthen its nuclear deterrent in response to what it called U.S. threats.
He says such comments aren’t surprising during the North’s high-level meeting this week.
