|
Paris--The British Foreign & Commonwealth Office officially announced on Thursday, local Korean time, that the office had asked a visiting North Korean delegation to improve its abysmal human rights record and to find a solution to the nuclear issue. Chairman Choe Thae-bok and a delegation from the Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) arrived in the United Kingdom on March 15 for an official visit after making a similar trip to the Czech Republic.
In the statement by the British Foreign Office, Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell said that he met with Choe at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London on March 17 and that ¡°Our discussion was open and frank.¡±
Rammell said, ¡°The British Government, like the UN, is concerned by reports of serious and continued human rights violations in North Korea,¡± and insisted that North Korea allow independent observers from the UN human rights organization into North Korea to investigate the situation. Rammell also added that he delivered to the North Koreans his view that ¡°Flat denials of abuses by the DPRK authorities are neither credible nor constructive.¡±
In regards to North Korea¡¯s nuclear programs, Rammell said that the British Government shares the concern of the international community about the development of nuclear weapons in North Korea and added that ¡°We believe that the six-party talks continue to offer the best opportunity to reach a durable and peaceful resolution of this issue.¡±
(Kang Kyung-hee, khkang@chosun.com )
|
