NKorea Media: US Not Meeting Commitments

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 22, 2008
Filed at 1:03 a.m. ET

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea accused the United States on Tuesday of failing to meet its commitments toward the communist nation, blaming Washington for the slow progress in a nuclear disarmament deal.

The North's Minju Joson newspaper said in a commentary that the U.S. failed to fulfill its promise to remove Pyongyang from U.S. terrorism and trade blacklists by the end of 2007 under a six-nation agreement that calls for the North's nuclear disarmament in exchange for aid and concessions.

''Under this situation, it is pretty evident that we cannot carry out our commitments unilaterally,'' the commentary said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. ''If the U.S. truly intends to move the Korean peninsula denuclearization forward, all it should do is be sincere about its own commitments.''

The North has repeatedly cited U.S. delays as the reason it has failed to meet its own requirements in the February nuclear deal, which included disabling nuclear facilities and providing list of all its nuclear programs by the end of last year.

Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul could not immediately be reached for comment.

North Korea claims it gave the U.S. a complete list of its nuclear programs in November. Washington says Pyongyang never produced a ''complete and correct'' nuclear programs list.

Still, U.S. officials have said the disarmament deal is not at risk and that it can progress, even though North Korea missed the year-end deadline.

A key sticking point is the abiding U.S. suspicion that the North pursued a uranium-based atomic bomb program -- an allegation the North denied, sparking the nuclear standoff in late 2002.

The newspaper also accused American ''hard-line conservative forces'' of trying to ''stifle'' North Korea.

''We have never flinched or ducked our heads in front of U.S. confrontational policy. We have responded to hard-line U.S. policy with super hard-line policy,'' it said. ''The Korean peninsula denuclearization process can move forward only when the U.S. sincerely carries out its commitments.''

/nNKorea Media: US Not Meeting Commitments - New York Times

ジェンキンスさんの母親死去、佐渡でも哀悼の意

　拉致被害者の曽我ひとみさん（４８）の夫ジェンキンスさん（６７）の母パティー・キャスパーさん（９４）が２０日、米国で亡くなったことを受け、新潟県佐渡市の関係者は哀悼の意をささげた。

　ジェンキンスさんが勤務する「佐渡歴史伝説館」の石川一秋社長は「訃報（ふほう）を聞き、とても残念だ」と話した上で、「ジェンキンスさんからは『お母さんのベッドの横にいて死に際に付き添い、看取ることができた』と聞いており、その点では親孝行できてよかったと思う」とジェンキンスさんを気づかった。ひとみさんの親類の時岡玉枝さん（７８）は「ひとみさんも気を落としている。旅費も実費となるのでたいへんだから訪米できないが、ジェンキンスさん本人の健康を心配していたようだ」と語った。

/nジェンキンスさんの母親死去、佐渡でも哀悼の意（産経新聞） - Yahoo!ニュース

北朝鮮、財政難で駐オーストラリア大使館を閉鎖

　［キャンベラ　２２日　ロイター］　オーストラリア外務省は２２日、北朝鮮が大使館を閉鎖すると明らかにした。運営費用がまかなえないためだという。

　北朝鮮は昨年１１月、オーストラリア当局に対し、２月に大使館を閉鎖する方針だと伝えていた。

　オーストラリアの外務省スポークスマンはロイターに「北朝鮮は、財政状況が改善すれば大使館の再開を検討するとしている」と述べた。

/n
北朝鮮、財政難で駐オーストラリア大使館を閉鎖
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