WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Vice President Richard Cheney launched a personal attack on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, calling him an irresponsible leader who "doesn't take care" of his people as he strives for nuclear power status for his country.
The comments, made in an interview with CNN's "Larry King Live" program due to be aired late Monday, marked an escalation of US rhetoric toward Pyongyang as the administration of President George W. Bush is stepping up diplomatic pressure to make Pyongyang return to six-party talks focused on North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
North Korea has refused to attend a fourth round of these talks that were to have taken place last September because of what it described as a "hostile" US attitude toward it.
The negotiations that in addition to the United States and North Korea involve China, Russia, South Korea and Japan have been stalled since then.
A Russian delegation that returned from Pyongyang earlier this month said North Koreans want the Bush administration to apologize for publicly branding Kim a "tyrant" and their country "an outpost of tyranny."
But according to excerpts of the interview released by the TV channel, Cheney made clear Pyongyang should not expect any softening of the US tone, let alone an apology.
"I am concerned about it," Cheney said of the stalled negotiations, "Partly because ... Kim Jong Il, who's the leader of North Korea, is -- I would describe as one of the world's more irresponsible leaders."
The vice president accused Kim of running "a police state" and one of the most heavily militarized societies in the world while the bulk of the North Korean population lived "in abject poverty and stages of malnutrition."
"He doesn't take care of his people at all," Cheney continued. "And he obviously wants to throw his weight around and become a nuclear power."
Cheney called the stalemate with North Korea "a major problem" and assured that the Bush administration was "continuing to work it very hard" to re-launch the talks.
He said officials in Pyongyang must "understand that they're not going to have normal relationships with the outside world, in terms of commerce, industry and trade, if they become a nuclear power."
The vice president also urged China to more aggressively use its clout with Pyongyang in trying to persuade it to return to the negotiating table.
"The Chinese need to understand that it's incumbent upon them to be major players here," Cheney said.
Cheney's attack appeared to echo comment made by Undersecretary of State John Bolton in Seoul two years ago, when he called Kim Jong Il as a "tyrannical dictator" who has made life is "a hellish nightmare" for many North Koreans.
In response, North Korean diplomats refused to deal with Bolton during the talks, and the remarks have been seen as a major contributing factor to their breakdown.
Bolton's nomination to be US ambassador to the United Nation is now at the center of a bitter political battle in the US Senate, where he was accused, among other things, of not clearing his Seoul remarks with other top State Department officials responsible for the North Korea portfolio.
But Cheney defended Bolton's record, calling him "a superb public official" who is particularly needed at the United Nations now that the organization is losing public confidence.
"He's tough," Cheney acknowledged. "But I can't think of sending somebody to the United Nations as our ambassador who's not tough."
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050529/pl_afp/usnkoreacheney_050529234835
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