The first rule of dealing with the North Koreans is you don’t talk about the deal

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea’s chief envoy stormed out of economic talks with South Korea on Thursday after the South urged its neighbor to honor its nuclear disarmament pledge.

South Korea had wanted to use this week’s meetings in Pyongyang to press the communist country to implement a Feb. 13 agreement to start dismantling its atomic weapons programs, possibly using rice aid as leverage.

The North failed to meet a Saturday deadline under the pact to shut down its sole operating nuclear reactor, saying it wanted to make sure a separate financial dispute was resolved first.

South Korea’s chief delegate, Chin Dong-soo, urged North Korea to quickly implement the nuclear deal, saying it would be “a shortcut to draw firm support from the international community on inter-Korean economic cooperation,” South Korean spokesman Kim Jung-tae said, according to pool reports.

The North’s chief delegate, Ju Dong Chan, made unspecified angry comments to South Korean officials and walked out, the reports said.

And if this press release is accurate, there will be many more awkward moments for the North.

The following is a press release from the North Korea Freedom Coalition

Focus on North Korea Atrocities

North Korea Freedom Week Includes International Protests

Contact: Jerry Dykstra, 616-915-4117, for North Korea Freedom Coalition, Suzanne Scholte, Chairman

WASHINGTON, April 18 /Christian Newswire/ — In the last few months the world has focused its attention on six-party talks and efforts to address North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. But lost in the six-party talks is the harsh reality of the suffering North Korean people under the brutal dictatorship of Kim Jong Il.

Under the rule of Kim Jong Il, millions of North Koreans have perished through starvation while others have died during imprisonment in North Korea’s prison/labor camps. Human rights in North Korea are virtually non-existent as the government regulates individual lives from speech, opinion and thought to employment, travel and food rations.

Hundreds of thousands have fled to China and other neighboring countries for survival and freedom. However, China continues to forcibly repatriate North Koreans to a fate that includes imprisonment where they may experience torture, medical and chemical experiments, forced abortions, infanticide, starvation and hard labor. Many of those imprisoned are Christians.

To highlight the atrocities carried out by Kim Jong-Il and to fight for the freedom, human rights and dignity of the North Korean people, the North Korea Freedom Coalition (NKFC) is sponsoring North Korea Freedom Week April 22-29, which will bring together thousands of people from around the world to participate in a week long series of hearings, panels, exhibits and special events.

NKFC is a bipartisan coalition of over 60 religious, human rights, non-governmental organizations and individuals from the U.S., North and South Korea, Japan and other nations whose primary purpose is to bring freedom to the North Korean people and to ensure that the human rights component of U.S. and world policy towards North Korea receives priority attention.

“I believe this year’s North Korea Freedom Week events will be more significant and have a greater impact than any in the past,” says Suzanne Scholte, chairman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition “It is certainly critical to the growing movement for human rights in North Korea for as many people to participate as possible during this special week. We will have many heroes – North Korean defectors, former jailed humanitarian workers, leaders in government and the NGO community from several nations – with us that week.

“Even if you can’t come to Washington, D.C., everyone can become involved, including taking part in the April 28 International Protest Against China’s Violent Treatment of North Korea Refugees. Please join us and be a part of this week to take a stand for the freedom, human rights and the dignity of the North Korean people.”

On April 28, the NKFC will sponsor a demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. The protest is part of the on-going effort to pressure the Chinese government to stop sending North Korean refugees back to the hermit county. The rally will start at noon. Similar demonstrations will be held April 28 at Chinese consulates and embassies around the world, including Los Angeles, Houston and New York City in the United States.

In addition, during April 22-29 there will be a Congressional hearing on China’s Treatment of North Korean Refugees and Humanitarian Workers, panel discussions, a forum featuring North Korean defectors, a prayer service and the North Korea Genocide Exhibit. For a complete list of the North Korea Freedom Week events, go to www.nkfreedom.org.

To set up an interview with Suzanne Scholte on North Korea Freedom Week, contact Jerry Dykstra at 616-915-4117.

Sorry for the lack of posting, but a flood in my area and the events in Virginia Tech has disrupted my week so far. I would like to make a brief statement about the shooting. By now, 33 people is dead and nothing we can do could bring them back. What we could have or should have done is not important. It’s time to look to the future. I think my blog has emphasized not dwelling in the past but to deal with the present and the future.

So I hope we learn that as free individuals we must stand up to the many faces of evil, whether it that is Kim Jong-Il or Cho Seung-Hui. Take it from defectors that voluntarily return to North Korea whether to help feed their families or spread the faith. If we must die, we must die knowing that evil men do not rule over us unchallenged.

Please pray for the victims and the obviously very sick shooter.