Not like Fuhrer Bush cares...
Andrew
groups.yahoo.com/group/peoplesrevolution
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
AFP. 3 January 2003. North Korean diplomat admits population living in cold
and darkness.
GENEVA -- North Korea is suffering from a deepening energy crisis with the
country's population plunged into cold and darkness, a senior North Korean
diplomat said in an interview on Saturday.
So Se-pyong, North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva,
insisted that Pyongyang's decision to resume its nuclear programme was due to
a breakdown in the 1994 agreement with the United States over the supply of
fuel oil, as well as light water reactors for nuclear power stations.
"Since (US President George W.) Bush took power, these two promises have been
swept aside," So Se-pyong told the Swiss daily Le Temps.
"The construction of the first power station only started last year and the
United States wants to block fuel deliveries. We had to react," he said.
So Se-pyong said the decision to restart the experimental Yongbyon reactor --
which had been mothballed and placed under UN observation under the 1994 deal
-- was essential, "whatever the consequences."
"You cannot imagine the situation with electricity in my country. Energy
production is at its lowest," he said.
"Our population is living in darkness and cold because we gave up producing
the necessary electricity ourselves. We were counting on the 1994 agreement,"
the North Korean diplomat added.
The North Korean diplomat reiterated an offer of negotiations without
pre-conditions and welcomed South Korean attempts to maintain dialogue.
"We are telling the United States: think, stop challenging us and stop
treating us as a rogue state," So Se-pyong told the newspaper.
"We will not lay down weapons and we will never accept to become naked," he
added.
North Korea has been hit by food and energy shortages since 1995, with
natural disasters aggravating its struggle for survival. Some western aid
agencies estimate up to two million people have since died of starvation and
disease.
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