North Korea calls U.S. official 'scum'

SEOUL, South Korea -- Pyongyang called a senior American official "human scum" for criticizing North Korea's leader, but the reclusive nation said it would still join U.S.-proposed multilateral talks on its suspected development of nuclear weapons.

The United States, meanwhile, said Sunday it was committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff and was not trying to end communist leader Kim Jong Il's rule.

North Korea said that it won't deal with U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton because he described the North's leader as a "tyrannical dictator" and said "life is a hellish nightmare" for many North Koreans.

Bolton had made the remarks during his visit to South Korea last week.

"Such human scum and bloodsucker is not entitled to take part in the talks," said a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman, according to the North's official KCNA news agency.

"We have decided not to consider him as an official of the U.S. administration any longer nor to deal with him," the unidentified spokesman said.

He said, however, that there was no change in Pyongyang's decision to hold six-country talks on the nuclear issue.

The countries involved are expected to be North Korea, the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.

In an interview with selected U.S. media outlets, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the six-way talks can allay the North's suspicions about a possible U.S. invasion.

"Our policy, the president's policy, is to work diplomatically with our partners and the North Koreans to find a diplomatic political solution," Powell said in the interview, made public Sunday.

Powell was asked about a previous comment by U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz that Kim's administration was "teetering on the edge of economic collapse." Wolfowitz said that could be used as "a major point of leverage" against Kim.

"I don't have a basis for saying there is an imminent collapse," Powell said.

"Right now there is a government there. It's been there for a lot of decades, and that's what I have to deal with," Powell said. "What the situation would be following a catastrophic collapse, I don't really know. I don't think it's anything that any of North Korea's neighbors at the moment wish to see."

Powell said the pending talks could lead to more U.S. help for "the people of North Korea." But he denied that the Bush administration used aid for the impoverished state to lure Kim into accepting the multilateral format.

Pyongyang agreed to the six-way talks despite saying for months it would only consent to bilateral talks with the United States. The North says it will work on the sidelines of the negotiations to push for one-on-one talks with Washington, which has insisted on multilateral talks because it says the North's nuclear program is a regional concern.

No date has been set for the talks.

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