N. Korea Pulls Out of U.N. Summit

Sept. 6, 2000 -- North Korea pulled out of a U.N. summit in New York and a hoped-for meeting with South Korea’s president because of “rude and provocative” treatment by U.S. security on Tuesday at Frankfurt airport, North Korea said.

The delegation to the U.N. Millennium Summit was led by KimYong-nam, chairman of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly, who in North Korean protocol is head of state and No. 2 in the government hierarchy.

There had been hopes that he would meet South KoreanPresident Kim Dae-Jung in New York to follow up the June summit between the two Koreas.

The delegation had been due to fly on American Airlines onMonday to join more than 100 heads of state gathering in NewYork for the summit, which begins today.

‘Hooligans and Rogues’

Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon told a news conferencethat the delegation had decided to return home because of its“rude and provocative” treatment by U.S. security staff.

“U.S. air security officials … opened suitcases andhandbags of each member of the presidential entourage, forcedthem to take off clothes and shoes and thoroughly searched eventhe sensitive parts of the body,” he said.

North Korea warned of retaliation against “an unbearablemockery of the sovereignty of an independent state and a gravechallenge to the United Nations and the summit organized by it”in a Foreign Ministry statement published by the North Koreannews agency KCNA.

“The recent happening goes to prove that the U.S. is theworld’s biggest state of hooligans and rogues. It is anentirely legitimate exercise of our sovereignty for us to takea strong measure against the brigandish and brazen-faced act ofthe U.S.

“The U.S. will come to know what a dear price it will haveto pay for having hurt our people’s dignity,” it said.

Choe said there could obviously be no meeting with SouthKorean officials in New York, but North Korea did not blame itsneighbor in any way for the incident and he stressed that talkshad been going well.

“I think there will be a chance for a meeting [in thefuture]. The chance is lost this time,” he told reporters,referring to the dialogue between the two Koreas, which began inJune after almost 50 years of hostility.

Airline Expresses Regret

American Airlines separately expressed regret at theinconvenience caused the diplomats, but said staff members wereonly doing their jobs.

“As a U.S. carrier we are obliged under Federal AviationAdministration regulations to carry out stringent securityprocedures for all passengers traveling on our internationalflights,” it said in a statement.

The airline said the North Koreans would have been able tocontinue their journey to New York on another carrier.

The North Koreans said that U.S. security staff told themthey were carrying out orders on how to deal with nationals of“rogue states” and claimed the United States was being “doublefaced” after President Clinton invited them into the country.

“The U.S. side should make an official apology for its actcommitted against the president,” it said.

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said the search, including a pat-down of the diplomats and a luggage check, was partially a result of misunderstandings.

“It was a combination of unfamiliarity with our procedures andI think some unfamiliarity on the part there [in Frankfurt] withthe delegation coming through,” he said.

Lockhart said the United States had looked forward to NorthKorean participation in the U.N. summit. “We regret that they goton a plane and headed back home,” he said.

Lockhart denied that the North Korean delegation was strip searched.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.