[Leica] N. Korea slams U.S. for Iraq prisoner abuse - NOT The Onion!

[timatherton at theedge.ca (Tim Atherton)]

love this one - "Yankees have turned Iraq into a chasm of death,"


N. Korea slams U.S. for Iraq prisoner abuse

May 15, 2004  |  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea on Saturday harshly
condemned the United States for abusing prisoners in Iraq, calling it an
"empire of evil."

The communist, totalitarian state's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification
of the Fatherland, a ruling party organization, as saying that American
soldiers "committed shuddering atrocities without hesitation."

"Yankees have turned Iraq into a chasm of death," an unidentified committee
spokesman said, according to the North's official NCNA news agency.

The abuses "are a continuation of hideous terrorism and human rights abuses
the U.S. has perpetrated against other countries and nations throughout its
history, as it is known to be an empire of evil whose main mission is to
commit aggression, murder, terrorism and maltreatment," the spokesman said.

North Korea is frequently named as one of the world's most egregious rights
abusers, accused of torture, forced abortions and infanticide, as well as
harsh restrictions on freedom of expression and foreign travel.

The North also railed against the United States for the Korean War.

"Yankees brutally killed innocent civilians in Sinchon and other parts of
(North Korea) during the Korean War," he said. "They continue killing,
raping and plundering South Koreans, young and old, men and women, still
today though it is nearing 60 years since their occupation of South Korea."

North Korea views the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea as
occupation forces, and has long demanded the end of the U.S. military
presence on the Korean Peninsula. In 2002, President Bush described North
Korea as being part of an ``axis of evil'' along with Iran and Iraq.