Kim Jong Il

In an unusually strong attack, a Foreign Ministry spokesman slammed Bush for calling North Korean leader Kim Jong Il a tyrant while campaigning Aug. 18 in Wisconsin.

The spokesman said hostile U.S. policy would make it impossible for North Korea to attend six-nation working-level talks on the nuclear issue, which had been scheduled for August but have yet to materialize.

"He is a political imbecile bereft of even elementary morality as a human being," said the spokesman, quoted by the official KCNA news agency.

The spokesman accused Bush of trying to topple the legitimate government of North Korea, branding him "a tyrant that puts Hitler into the shade."

He said that following Bush's comments, North Korea could not attend working-level discussions aimed at paving the way for a new round of ministerial negotiations on the nuclear issue. The talks bring together the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

The Japan Times Weekly: Aug. 28, 2004
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