NKorea vows strong military, economy in 2008, no mention of nuclear deadline

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

SEOUL (AFP) — North Korea vowed Tuesday in a New Year policy message to strengthen its military and its economy in 2008 but made no mention of its failure to meet a year-end denuclearisation deadline.

However a joint editorial in leading state media hinted that the hardline communist state could be ready to follow through on an international deal to scrap its nuclear weaponry.

The editorial, which sets out policy goals, called for efforts to fully utilise "the mental power of all the soldiers and people, which is more powerful than nuclear weapons."

The 4,500-word summary carried by the Korean Central News Agency made no specific mention of a six-nation denuclearisation pact agreed in 2007 following the North's atomic weapons test in 2006.

Pyongyang...