North Korea lashed out at US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Wednesday for calling the communist country an "outpost of tyranny" and ruled out new talks over its nuclear ambitions. "It is inconceivable for the DPRK (North Korea) to go out for the talks before it is delisted as 'an outpost of tyranny,'" a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement published by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
The statement came as Rice headed to the region for talks on how to end a prolonged stand-off over North Korea's nuclear weapons drive. Rice arrives in Tokyo on Friday ahead of visits to Seoul and Beijing.
The spokesman said North Korea was being pressured to expand its nuclear arsenal in the face of US efforts to crush the Stalinist regime, adding that it would only resume talks if Washington dropped its hostile stance towards Pyongyang.
"It is, therefore, entirely just for the DPRK to steadily bolster its nuclear arsenal for self-defence in order to protect its ideology and system and the peace and stability in the region as it has already clarified."
Pyongyang declared afresh on February 10 that it had nuclear weapons and withdrew indefinitely from the disarmament negotiations.
Rice has refused to back down from her criticism of North Korea, which inflamed Pyongyang amid international efforts to bring it back to the negotiating table.
During a stop-off in India Tuesday, Rice warned North Korea it was becoming increasingly isolated and said Pyongyang's return to six-party talks was the only way to end the stand-off.
The North Korean spokesman urged Washington to "behave realistically and wisely if it wishes to resume the six-party talks."
He said North Korea would not deal with "such woman bereft of any political logic." "Her reckless remarks showed to the world what type of a woman she is," the spokesman said.
"It is quite illogical for the US to intend to negotiate with the DPRK without retracting its remarks listing its dialogue partner as 'an outpost of tyranny,'" he added.
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