HOME	Where the World's Views of America Come into Focus

June 2, 2005

Original Article (English)

Pyongyang: A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman responded to a question from the Korean Central News Agency on Thursday in regard to U.S. Vice President Cheney's vituperation against North Korea’s supreme headquarters:

On May 30, Cheney was so imprudent as to let loose a bitter condemnation of the supreme headquarters of North Korea, once again revealing his inveterate intention not to recognize the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

[Appearing on CNN’s Larry King, Cheney called Kim Jong-il, “one of the world's more irresponsible leaders," called North Korea "a police state," and accused Kim of “maintaining one of the most heavily militarized societies in the world.” He also said most North Koreans lived "in abject poverty and stages of malnutrition."]

Cheney is hated as a most cruel monster and bloodthirsty beast as he has drenched various parts of the world in blood. It is the unshakable will of the people and army of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea never to pardon anyone who dares hurl slander at their supreme headquarters, but to mete out to him a stern punishment.

North Korea has already called attention to the constant stream of remarks made by mandarins [officials] of the U.S. administration intended to pressure and sow confusion, even after the contact on May 13, at which time the U.S. side formally informed the North Korean side that it would not invade the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and its will to recognize it as a sovereign state.

[This is a reference to a formerly secret meeting between U.S. and North Korean officials, presumably at Pyongyang’s U.N. Mission in New York.]

The remarks made by Cheney just after the New York meeting suggesting the potential resumption of six-party talks clearly show his inveterate rejection of North Korea’s political system and his intention to put the brakes on the six-party talks. The remarks made by Cheney, boss of the hawkish hard-liners, reveal the true colors of this group, who steer the implementation of Bush Administration policy. Standing tall in this face-off with such hawkish hard-liners over the nuclear issue and the issue of the six-party talks, we feel vindicated again at what a good job we have done.

Cheney’s utterance at a time when the issue of the six-party talks is high on the agenda is little short of telling North Korea not to return to the talks. The United States should clearly know that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a dignified independent and sovereign state, has never moved under any pressure.

We are strong enough to defy the pressure.

It was none other than the U.S. that compelled North Korea to have access to nuclear weapons. It is, therefore, quite preposterous for the U.S. to take issue with this. Our stand remains consistent: to achieve the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and to seek a peaceful negotiated solution to the issue. But if the U.S. persists in its wrong behavior, misjudging our magnanimity and patience as a sign of weakness, this will bring more serious consequences.

If the U.S. has really seeks to peacefully settle the nuclear issue through dialogue, it should retract its remarks, such as "outpost of tyranny," and provide a justification and conditions for the resumption of the talks.