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North Korea's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday dug in its heels saying it will not return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks unless U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice withdraws her description of the country as an "outpost of tyranny".
Speaking to the Stalinist country's Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said North Korea "could not imagine" going to the negotiating table with the stigma of having been called an outpost of tyranny. He said the U.S. would have to be "realistic and wise" if it wanted to restart the talks.
Rice has flatly refused to apologize for her comments, telling the Washington Times on Monday there was no reason to apologize for speaking the truth.
The North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said it was illogical for the U.S. to expect to hold talks after it has designated its dialogue partner an "outpost of tyranny," and this was no different from saying Washington ultimately didn't intend to participate in the six-party talks. He said Rice should understand that Pyongyang would not yield to coercion, and the U.S. had best avoid "foolishness" like mobilizing three-way pressure on North Korea.
(Kwon Dae-yeol, dykwon@chosun.com )
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