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N.Korea's Red Cross sends rare sympathy to US

Posted on: Saturday, 3 September 2005, 08:54 CDT

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's Red Cross Society sent a message of sympathy to the hurricane-ravaged United States on Saturday, in a rare gesture toward a country the communist state has called "evil" led by a "political imbecile."

The reclusive North is involved a long-standing nuclear crisis with the United States and claims that aggressive U.S. intent has forced it to build nuclear weapons.

"In the message, the society expressed sympathy with the USA Red Cross in connection with the great disaster suffered by those areas due to the hurricane," the North's official KCNA news agency said.

"(The Red Cross Society) hoped that they would recover from it and the living of the inhabitants in the afflicted areas return to normal as early as possible," KCNA said referring to the message.

There was no mention of an offer of recovery assistance.

The same North Korean mouthpiece agency criticized the United States on Saturday for naming a special envoy last month to address the human rights condition in the North.

"The U.S. is the world's worst human rights abuser," KCNA said, adding that Washington was engaged in "terrorism to spread the American style 'freedom and democracy' under the pretext of combating terrorism."

Reports of widespread human rights abuses in the North has drawn international condemnation, including by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights for the third consecutive year.

The North has agreed to return to six-country talks aimed at ending its nuclear program, which also involve the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

Source: REUTERS

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