North Korea bans Bolton from talks

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SEOUL -- Pyongyang, calling a senior American official "human scum" for criticizing North Korea's leader, banned him from U.S.-proposed multilateral talks on its suspected development of nuclear weapons.

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

Mr. Bolton made the remarks during a 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.

The United States said yesterday it was committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff and was not trying to end Mr. Kim's rule.

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