“Bush is a tyrant that puts Hitler into the shade and his group of such tyrants is a typical gang of political gangsters,” asserted a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman.

The North Korean ministry spokesman was reacting to a speech that President Bush delivered last week in Wisconsin, during which he stated: “There’s now five countries saying to the tyrant in North Korea, disarm, disarm.”

North Korea reasserted that it now refuses to participate in the working-level talks that would serve as the prelude to the six-nation discussion — which would include delegates from the United States, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and North Korea — which is scheduled to occur at the end of next month. The six-party conference will focus on nuclear weapons programs and will be a continuation of the recent round of discussions that took place in June.  

Mimi Hanaoka