N. Korea Rejects Inspection Pressure

TOKYO —  North Korea told the United States on Sunday that it would reject pressure to open its nuclear program to international inspection.

In a commentary, the official North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun urged the United States to use upcoming talks between the two countries to end what it said were hostile policies toward North Korea.

“No pressure can work and the problem cannot be solved by such means,” said the commentary, referring to possible U.N. sanctions against North Korea for its withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The talks, to begin Wednesday, are only the second high-level negotiations between North Korea and the United States since 1945. The United States has no formal ties with North Korea.

North Korea declared in March that it would withdraw from the treaty in response to demands for expanded inspections of its nuclear facilities.

Treaty signatories allow inspection by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency. The decision heightened fears that the hard-line Communist country was developing nuclear weapons, despite its denials.