Pyongyang Derides US Treaty Offer

The North Korean government is calling a US pledge not to invade North Korea a 'laughing matter'. US President George W. Bush had earlier offered the isolated communist country a written guarantee that the US and four other countries would not attack North Korea if Pyongyang agreed to give up its nuclear weapons development program. "We have demanded that the United States drop its hostile policy toward and sign a bilateral non-aggression treaty with us," said a North Korean news agency. "We have not demanded some kind of security guarantee." As a part of the 'axis of evil' identified by the Bush administration, North Korea has been under great pressure from its Asian neighbors and the US to cease developing weapons-grade nuclear materials. - YaleGlobal