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Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday downplayed the political significance of U.S. President George W. Bush's meeting with North Korean defector and Chosun Ilbo journalist Kang Chol-hwan to discuss the human rights situation in the Stalinist country.
Asked during a briefing with reporters about the meeting between Bush and Kang, Ban said, "The North Korean human rights situation is already widely known, not just in the United States, but also worldwide... I don't think the meeting will influence the development of either the six-party talks to resolve the North Korean nuclear dispute or inter-Korean relations."
Ban cautioned against reading too much into Bush¡¯s interest in Kang¡¯s book ¡°Aquariums of Pyongyang¡±, which details the author¡¯s 10 hellish years in a North Korean prison camp. ¡°I don't think anyone recommended Kang's book to President Bush with a particular political or other intention,¡± he said. ¡°You can recommend a book anytime, and there's no need to react over-sensitively to the activities of U.S. citizen movements or human rights groups" - a reference to increased focus in America on Pyongyang¡¯s dismal human rights record.
Ban said efforts to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table had reached ¡°a watershed¡±. ¡°We will make active use of inter-Korean dialogue like the June 15 festival in Pyongyang to urge North Korea to return to the six-party talks,¡± he said. He also said there were plans for a regular negotiating framework whereby the South Korean and U.S. foreign ministers meet every year.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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