Post by RPankn on Nov 26, 2005 17:54:25 GMT -5
Sat Nov 26, 2005 8:53 AM ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea on Saturday called a recent CNN program depicting a public execution in the communist state a "sheer fabrication" and dismissed it as a ratings ploy by the U.S.-based broadcaster.
North Korea takes any criticism of its internal affairs sensitively and brands it a part of U.S. conspiracy to topple the government of its leader, Kim Jong-il.
CNN earlier this month broadcast a documentary, "Undercover in the Secret State," which among other images showed a grainy clip of what it called a public execution by firing squad of a man accused of helping a refugee cross into neighboring China.
"The video tape is full of sheer lies negating the popular and class nature and the democratic principle of the DPRK's laws and tarnishing its image from A to Z," the North's official KCNA news agency said in a commentary.
DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
KCNA said people "who know about the DPRK even a bit claimed that the way of speaking and dressing of those who appeared on the screen and the background against which the scenes were shot were quite different from the reality in the DPRK, a clear proof of a sheer fabrication."
A Japanese news agency and a British television channel have also broadcast images they say had been taken inside the North and showed public executions.
As in the CNN program, those images were captured from a distance and included no independent first-person accounts of what was taking place, making it difficult to discern the circumstances or the location of the actions.
"CNN is losing popularity as the days go by although it had high audience rating in the world in the past," KCNA said. Much upset by this, CNN staged such poor farce to improve its image."
In the process, the U.S. broadcaster has been "reduced to a trumpeter and a political waiting maid for the U.S. administration," it said.
North Korea has been accused of gross human rights violations, including live human testing of biological agents and operating prison camps.
A UN General Assembly committee on November 17 adopted a resolution expressing serious concern about the state of human rights in the secluded state.
South Korea abstained from voting from concern for provoking the North. China, the North's ally, voted against.
today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-11-26T135304Z_01_MOL649891_RTRUKOC_0_US-KOREA-NORTH-CNN.xml
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea on Saturday called a recent CNN program depicting a public execution in the communist state a "sheer fabrication" and dismissed it as a ratings ploy by the U.S.-based broadcaster.
North Korea takes any criticism of its internal affairs sensitively and brands it a part of U.S. conspiracy to topple the government of its leader, Kim Jong-il.
CNN earlier this month broadcast a documentary, "Undercover in the Secret State," which among other images showed a grainy clip of what it called a public execution by firing squad of a man accused of helping a refugee cross into neighboring China.
"The video tape is full of sheer lies negating the popular and class nature and the democratic principle of the DPRK's laws and tarnishing its image from A to Z," the North's official KCNA news agency said in a commentary.
DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
KCNA said people "who know about the DPRK even a bit claimed that the way of speaking and dressing of those who appeared on the screen and the background against which the scenes were shot were quite different from the reality in the DPRK, a clear proof of a sheer fabrication."
A Japanese news agency and a British television channel have also broadcast images they say had been taken inside the North and showed public executions.
As in the CNN program, those images were captured from a distance and included no independent first-person accounts of what was taking place, making it difficult to discern the circumstances or the location of the actions.
"CNN is losing popularity as the days go by although it had high audience rating in the world in the past," KCNA said. Much upset by this, CNN staged such poor farce to improve its image."
In the process, the U.S. broadcaster has been "reduced to a trumpeter and a political waiting maid for the U.S. administration," it said.
North Korea has been accused of gross human rights violations, including live human testing of biological agents and operating prison camps.
A UN General Assembly committee on November 17 adopted a resolution expressing serious concern about the state of human rights in the secluded state.
South Korea abstained from voting from concern for provoking the North. China, the North's ally, voted against.
today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-11-26T135304Z_01_MOL649891_RTRUKOC_0_US-KOREA-NORTH-CNN.xml