A reader forwarded this speech by An Song Nam, the Executive Director at the DPRK’s Institute of Disarmament and Peace in Pyongyang, posted at Nautilus, “Process of Denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and the Challenges.” The text is from a presentation An delivered at the annual Asia-Pacific Roundtable in Kuala Lumpur in June, before the BDA funds had been received in Pyongyang. A few excerpts:

The U.S. hostile policy against the DPRK, lasting more than half a century, is directly responsible for triggering the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

[…]

Pyongyang has approached the talks with magnanimity, proceeding from the principled, fair, and aboveboard stand to achieve the general goal of the denuclearization of the Peninsula at any cost.

[…]

What stands most is the U.S. hostile policy against the DRRK

Yes, and a nuke test is part of the, “aboveboard stand to achieve the general goal of the denuclearization of the Peninsula at any cost.” The devil (U.S.) made them do it.

An does lay out a North Korea’s central arguments in a concise format, and unfortunately those with little background in this area, or any inclination towards knee-jerk anti-Americanism, would likely be inclined to accept his position. Others will recognize it for the disingenuous and factually challenged position it actually is.

A bit of trivia; the phrase “hostile policy” appears 10 times in the speech.