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North Korean spokesman says U.S. recognition of sovereignty is trick to conceal overthrow plan The Associated PressSEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Saturday that Washington's reassurances about recognizing its independence were a trick meant to conceal a U.S. plan to topple the communist government. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said earlier this month that "the United States, of course, recognizes that North Korea is sovereign" — a remark seen as a gesture to coax the North to return to nuclear disarmament negotiations with five other nations. Rice's "loudmouthed recognition of the sovereign state and the like were nothing but a ruse to conceal the U.S. attempt at bringing down (North Korea's) regime," said an unidentified spokesman for North Korea's Foreign Ministry. The spokesman said Rice was either "ignorant" or a "brazen-faced liar" and criticized a "U.S. attempt at a military invasion" of North Korea, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported. The communist state declared Feb. 10 that it has nuclear weapons and would indefinitely boycott the six-nation disarmament talks — involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia — until the United States dropped its "hostile" policy toward it. Washington has repeatedly said it has no intention of invading the North. The North's nuclear claim has not been verified, but U.S. intelligence and other estimates say North Korea has as many as six atomic weapons. The North Korean spokesman also blamed "U.S. noncompliance" for the collapse of a 1994 deal between the countries in which North Korea agreed to stop its nuclear weapons development in exchange for aid. In a separate commentary Saturday in the state-run Minju Joson newspaper, the North said it would "steadfastly keep to the path of its own choice as urgently required by the reality." "The U.S. would be well-advised to clearly understand the gravity of the situation and behave itself," said the commentary, carried by KCNA. The current standoff was sparked in late 2002 after U.S. officials accused North Korea of running a secret uranium enrichment program. Also Saturday, the North asked South Korea to participate in talks next week, which would be a resumption of their dialogue after a 10-month hiatus, North Korea's news agency said. The talks would be held Monday and Tuesday in the North Korean border city of Kaesong. Southern officials will tell those from the North of growing international concern about the nuclear standoff and will urge Pyongyang to return to the six-nation talks that have been stalled for nearly a year, officials in the South said. Dialogue between the two Koreas was suspended in July after mass defections to South Korea from the North that Pyongyang labeled kidnappings. "First, there will be discussions on measures to normalize relations between the South and the North," Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo told reporters. "We will also convey our position on the North Korean nuclear issue." Rhee will lead the South Korean delegation to the talks in Kaesong, site of a joint economic zone run by both Koreas. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |