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| Sunday, 28 August 2005 |
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North Korea slams U.S. monitor SEOUL, Aug 27 (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday Washington's decision to appoint a special envoy to monitor human rights in the reclusive country casts a shadow over six-party talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons. Earlier this month U.S. President George W. Bush named Jay Lefkowitz to promote human rights in North Korea, which Western politicians and activists say has an abysmal human rights record. The North's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, branded Lefkowitz a hard-line conservative, according to a report in Korean monitored by Seoul's Yonhap news agency. The Pyongyang daily said the appointment had "forced it to take a different approach" to the six-country talks that are scheduled to resume next week out of fear the appointment is an attempt to undermine its leaders, Yonhap said. "If the United States continues to act this way and cast chills on our generosity and flexibility, we cannot help but think otherwise," Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary carried in the Korean-language service of the North's official KCNA news agency. Meanwhile, the AFP report says North Korea is to decide by tomorrow whether to resume six-party talks on its nuclear activities, quoting a Russian agency. The decision will follow a meeting between North Korean and US diplomats, it said. "It is planned to hold the fourth meeting of diplomatic representatives of North Korea and the United States at a fairly high level and during this meeting the date and outlines of the resumption of the fourth round (of multi-party talks) should be settled," Interfax said, without saying where the US-North Korea meeting might take place. On Thursday Interfax said multi-party talks involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the US "probably would not be able" to resume on September 2 in Beijing, citing a North Korean diplomatic source. But the same day in Tokyo Deputy Chinese Foreign Minister Wu Dawei had said talks could resume on September 2. |
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