Asia-Pacific
KCNA: DPRK to build its own light water reactor
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-29 22:57
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PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will build a light water reactor with its own nuclear fuel in response to "a black propaganda campaign" from its enemies, the official news agency KCNA said Monday.
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The news agency saw attempts from the United States, South Korea and Japan to discourage foreign investment in the DPRK by portraying a bleak picture of the DPRK economy.
"Behind this despicable propaganda are forces displeased with any investment in the DPRK. It is aimed at holding in check investment in the DPRK in a bid to hamstring its efforts to improve the people's living standards by focusing efforts on economic construction."
After its efforts to bolster nuclear deterrent, the DPRK government has been concentrating its efforts on economic construction and the improvement of people's living standards since last year, said the KCNA.
"While expanding its external economic relations, the DPRK is making a switcher to actively introducing investment from other countries... The hostile forces seek to stem this trend," it said.
Media reports from the United States, South Korea and Japan are pointing to an economic crisis in the DPRK, which is not true, according to the KCNA.
These reports are giving impression that "contingency" is imminent in the DPRK as shortage of food and economic difficulties are more serious than those in the 1990s due to the failure of monetary reform, it said.
There are even rumors about the health of DPRK supreme leader Kim Jong Il, it added.
"They would be well advised to remember that the DPRK has a firm foundation of an independent national economy which remains solid despite any storm from outside," said the KCNA.
The DPRK announced it would "develop a light water reactor actively" last April. In September last year, the DPRK's representative to the United Nations told the Security Council that the country had succeeded in experimental uranium enrichment.
