The delicate art of diplomacy

North Korea criticized US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for calling the communist country part of an "axis of evil", labelling her comments "outrageous, reckless remarks by an insane person", the North's state-run media reported Thursday [29 June].

In an interview with Fox News on 24 May, Rice said she "absolutely" agreed with President George W. Bush using the term to describe North Korea, Iran and pre-war Iraq. "When they repress their people, when you have the kind of starvation that you've had in North Korea, when you've had the use of chemical weapons in Iraq, what else can you call it?"

More than a month after Rice's interview, North Korea labelled her statement as "outrageous, reckless remarks by an insane person lacking any reason and judgment" in its latest edition of Tongil Sinbo, a weekly magazine. Bush's "axis of evil" remark was "a wicked statement by an evil, which plunged the world into extreme confusion and fear. Notwithstanding, the fact that Secretary Rice said she agreed with the remarks is based on Don Quixote-type thought that a crow is a snowy heron," said the report, which was posted Thursday on a North Korean Internet site, Uriminjokkkiri. Rice is the "most brazen, shameless filthy human being", it said, alleging millions of people in the United States can't eat three meals a day and racial discrimination there is so severe that human rights advocates are being arrested and murdered.

Source: Yonhap news agency, Seoul, in English, 29 June 2006

[Obviously they've not been reading How To Win Friends and Influence People. "A crow is a snowy heron" though? Is that meant to be creepy, or just really dumb?]