Thursday, December 15, 2005

North Korea Decries CNN Documentary

North Korea criticized CNN for airing footage purporting to show a public execution, accusing it of being part of a U.S. government-organized slander campaign.

CNN aired a documentary with footage defectors claimed to have smuggled out of the North, including a public execution of a person who had helped someone defect to China. The network had said North Korea declined to respond to a request for comment.

In commentary by its official Korean Central News Agency, the North said the footage was "full of sheer lies'' and accused CNN of airing the tape at the instigation of the U.S. government as part of an alleged psychological campaign to overthrow the regime.

The North said it would "not show any mercy to those who are hostile'' to the country, and that its people would rally around leader Kim Jong Il "in order to frustrate the hostile forces' ever-more undisguised moves to isolate and stifle'' the North.

[Associated Press]

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