Posted on 11/05/2005 4:28:34 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
N. Korea Chafes at U.N. Human Rights Plan
Sat Nov 5, 2:40 AM ET
North Korea has accused the United States of attempting to overthrow the communist regime with a human rights law and warned of an "ultra hard-line" response if it does so, according to a North Korean news report on Saturday.
An unidentified delegate issued the warning before the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday, said the report on North's Korean Central Broadcasting Station, a state-controlled radio station monitored by South Korea's Yonhap news agency. North Korean officials often make policy statements through state-run media.
The North Korean envoy protested against the North Korean Human Rights Act enacted by Congress last year that lets the U.S. administration spend up to $24 million a year to help improve human rights in the totalitarian country.
"The purpose of this law lies in switching the system or overthrowing the government under the cloak of promoting human rights and democracy and facilitating market economy in our country," the North's delegate was quoted as saying.
"We will put up ultra hard-line responses to this kind of hostility to safeguard our sovereignty as well as people's freedom and safety," the delegate said without elaborating on the "responses."
The North's delegate also berated the European Union over its efforts to introduce a resolution on the North's human rights to the U.N. General Assembly.
Reports of torture and public executions are a few of the atrocities that have emerged from the isolated North, raising international concerns. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are believed to be held in prison camps there for political reasons, a State Department report said earlier this year.
However, human rights concerns in North Korea have often been overshadowed by the international crisis over its nuclear weapons program.
The North and the United States have held four rounds of negotiations so far to resolve the nuclear dispute. The talks, which also involve China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, are scheduled to resume in Beijing on Nov. 9.
To N. Korea: Please lob your long-range missile into the middle of the Mediterranean, and "impress" Euros.
Ping!
""ultra hard-line" response"
What? They're going to torture and kill more of their people?
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