NKorea military warns N-deal could be scrapped

[NNN0LHI]

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SEOUL - North Korea’s military warned Friday that a deal to disarm its nuclear programme could be scrapped if the United States keeps “pressurising” the country, the official KCNA news agency reported.

The North will step up efforts to protect itself from a “US nuclear attack and pre-emptive strike” if the US keeps “pressurising the DPRK under the pretext of the nuclear issue,” it said.

“In that case, it is as clear as noonday that neither the implementation of the February 13 agreement nor success of the six-party talks will be possible,” the military said in a statement carried by KCNA.

UN weapons inspectors are expected to return to North Korea on Saturday amid hopes that the secretive regime would begin shutting a key nuclear facility as part of the February deal worked out in six-nation talks.