North Korea accused United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today of bias in urging the communist country to reconsider its decision to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Calling the withdrawal "an unavoidable, self-defensive measure," North Korea said Mr Annan "had created a misleading impression as if our country alone was violating treaties related to disarmament".
In an opening message to the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament on Tuesday, Mr Annan pointedly regretted North Korea's decision earlier this month to pull out of the 1970 nuclear pact, which aims to halt the spread of nuclear arms.
He urged North Korea to reconsider the move, which followed Pyongyang's ordering the expulsion of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, a UN body.
But in a letter to the head of the UN Geneva office Mr Sergei Ordzhonikidze, who is also secretary-general of the arms talks, North Korean ambassador Mr Ri Tcheul said Pyongyang deeply regretted and rejected Mr Annan's message.
Mr Annan had "one-sidedly" urged "victim" North Korea to take measures while failing to mention the United States, which had accused North Korea of being part of an "axis of evil", so designating it "a target of nuclear attack", Mr Tcheul said.
"If anyone truly wants peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula, it should take an impartial stance and encourage the United States to accept our proposal on dialogue," the North Korean envoy added.