NK says no inter-Korean meeting in New York
A senior North Korean diplomat on Tuesday ruled out a meeting between top diplomats of the rival Koreas in New York as South Korea called for talks with North Korea on its human rights record.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong is in New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly, the first time that North Korea has sent a foreign minister to the U.N. in 15 years.
The move raised speculation that Ri could meet with either U.S. or South Korean officials on the sidelines of the annual gathering of the world body.
But Kim Myong-gil, who is in charge of Asian affairs at the North's Foreign Ministry, dismissed the possibility of a bilateral meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.
"As far as I know, there will be no meeting," Kim said in a brief comment to Yonhap News Agency.
His comment came hours after Yun proposed to hold talks with North Korea on its dismal human rights record, saying he welcomes Pyongyang's recent expression of willingness for dialogue on the issue.
North Korea has long been accused of grave human rights abuses, ranging from holding hundreds of thousands of political prisoners in concentration camps to committing torture and carrying out public executions.
Also Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Pyongyang to shut down all political prison camps across the communist nation, which he described as an "evil system."
Kerry made the comment in a ministerial meeting he hosted in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in the latest attempt to bring attention to North Korea's human rights violations.
Pyongyang has bristled at any talk of its human rights conditions, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.
Still, the North released its own human rights report earlier this month, claiming the country has the world's most advantageous human rights system and policies. (Yonhap)