'Rubbish': Pyongyang Slams S Korean FM for Criticism of North's Nuclear Program

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se's words on the urgency of the nuclear issue in North Korea were "rubbish," the North's Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea said Friday in a statement.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Last week, Yun said at the Munich Security Conference that North Korea's final stage of nuclear weaponization could come very soon.

"Yun Byung-se spouted rubbish, regardless of whom he was meeting, that the nuclear issue of the North is like a time bomb, the North's nukes will reach the critical phase of actual deployment in one or two years and now is the last opportunity to stop it," the statement was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

Pyongyang said that Yun was "ignorant of how peace is being preserved on the Korean Peninsula" and that such actions would only urge North Korea to pursue self-reliance.

North Korea's nuclear program has been a source for concern for its closest neighbors, Japan and South Korea, as well as for the international community. On February 12, Pyongyang launched a medium-range ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan and declared the test successful. This and a number of previous launches were considered to be in violation of the UNSC resolutions by the United Nations.