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Pyongyang is cranking up personal attacks on Condoleezza Rice, who described North Korea as an "outpost of tyranny" in a programmatic statement prior to her confirmation as U.S. secretary of state. Rice is due in Seoul this weekend to discuss stalled six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament.
Following castigation of Rice by Pyongyang's state-run media, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman decided to get in on the act on Wednesday.
Pyongyang Broadcasting said immediately after Rice assumed the office of White House national security advisor in April 2001 "she howled in a way unbecoming of a woman's dignity" in explaining the Bush administration's policies. In February 2002, Central TV said, "Bush runs around like a new-born puppy that knows no fear of a tiger, and the skirt-wearing Rice is just the same."
On Wednesday, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman described Rice as "no more than an official of the most tyrannical dictatorial state in the world," and said, "This kind of woman is not a partner with whom we can talk."
A South Korean government official said the statements were borne of resentment over Rice's designation of North Korea as an "outpost of tyranny", and could be seen as a demand for her to apologize when she visits Seoul. Since announcing on Feb. 10 that it has nuclear arms and is boycotting the six-party talks, Pyongyang has consistently demanded that the U.S. apologize for the label.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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