North Korea said it had planned to show a nuclear complex at the centre of its atomic crisis to a US congressional delegation whose visit to the communist country was postponed by Washington at the last minute.
The bipartisan delegation was scheduled to leave the US on Sunday for a trip that coincided with a visit to Pyongyang by a senior Chinese leader and signs of progress in the year-old impasse over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican set to head the delegation, said in a statement on Sunday the trip had been delayed after the White House withdrew its support for the visit "at the 11th hour." His spokesman confirmed the North had suggested visiting the Yongbyon site.
The White House, which has been trying to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programs, said it was important to concentrate on six-way talks involving China, Japan, Russia, the two Koreas and the US.
"Given our desire to keep the focus on the six-party process, we believe that a congressional delegation visit to North Korea at this time would not be appropriate," a White House official said.
Late on Sunday, North Korea's official KCNA news agency said Weldon's delegation had been scheduled to visit the Yongbyon nuclear complex where Pyongyang has said it has reprocessed fuel rods as part of its atomic arms program.
KCNA said the North had "prepared an itinerary in such a way as to let the delegation visit the nuclear facility in Yongbyon as desired by the delegation so that it might watch on the spot the completed reprocessing and the switchover made in the use of plutonium obtained in its course."
Weldon's spokesman said North Korea had been very keen to give the delegation the chance to visit Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang.
"The North Koreans had made very strong overtures that the congressional delegation would have the opportunity to visit the Yongbyon facility," Weldon's spokesman Bud DeFlavius said.
No foreigners are known to have visited the top-secret complex since North Korea expelled UN nuclear monitors at the end of last year. It was not clear how Weldon's team could verify plutonium reprocessing without the help of experts.
North Korea's repeated efforts to escalate the nuclear crisis have met with skepticism in the capitals of the other parties to the six-way talks.
KCNA said North Korea wondered whether US President George W. Bush's administration withdrew its support for the congressional visit because it feared the team would be able to confirm progress in the North's nuclear plans.
"This, of course, is an internal affair of the United States which we have nothing to do with. But it is the view of our relevant field on this matter that this has happened because the congress delegation will have an opportunity to see for itself the nuclear facility in Yongbyon," said KCNA.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese