North Korea Accuses US of Politicizing Human Rights Issues

FILED - 20 April 2024, North Korea: A picture released by the North Korean State News Agency (KCNA) on 20 April 2024 shows a "super-large warhead" power test for a strategic cruise missile and a test-fire of a new anti-aircraft rocket near the Yellow Sea. Photo: -/YNA/dpa
FILED - 20 April 2024, North Korea: A picture released by the North Korean State News Agency (KCNA) on 20 April 2024 shows a "super-large warhead" power test for a strategic cruise missile and a test-fire of a new anti-aircraft rocket near the Yellow Sea. Photo: -/YNA/dpa
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North Korea Accuses US of Politicizing Human Rights Issues

FILED - 20 April 2024, North Korea: A picture released by the North Korean State News Agency (KCNA) on 20 April 2024 shows a "super-large warhead" power test for a strategic cruise missile and a test-fire of a new anti-aircraft rocket near the Yellow Sea. Photo: -/YNA/dpa
FILED - 20 April 2024, North Korea: A picture released by the North Korean State News Agency (KCNA) on 20 April 2024 shows a "super-large warhead" power test for a strategic cruise missile and a test-fire of a new anti-aircraft rocket near the Yellow Sea. Photo: -/YNA/dpa

North Korea accused the United States on Saturday of politicizing human rights in the East Asian country, denouncing what it called political provocation and conspiracy.
Pyongyang will make stern and decisive choices to protect its sovereignty and safety in response to Washington using human rights as a tool for invasion and hostile, anti-North Korea behavior, state media KCNA quoted a foreign ministry spokesperson as saying.
The spokesperson cited a special envoy on human rights in the administration of President Joe Biden. The envoy on North Korean human rights issues, Julie Turner, visited Seoul and Tokyo in February to discuss North Korea.
An annual report this week by the State Department described "significant human rights issues" in North Korea, Reuters reported.
It cited credible reports of "arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearance; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government authorities.”
North Korea also criticized the US for urging it to stop launching missiles and other rockets for what Washington calls violations of UN resolutions, KCNA said, mentioning a South Korean satellite launch in April.
"We will carry out our critical mission as planned to enhance our space reconnaissance capabilities to ensure the security of our country," KCNA said in a statement citing a spokesperson for North Korea's National Aerospace Development Administration.



Trump Says Biden Left Him ‘Inspirational-Type’ Letter 

US President Donald Trump delivers remarks on AI infrastructure at the Roosevelt room at White House in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump delivers remarks on AI infrastructure at the Roosevelt room at White House in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Trump Says Biden Left Him ‘Inspirational-Type’ Letter 

US President Donald Trump delivers remarks on AI infrastructure at the Roosevelt room at White House in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump delivers remarks on AI infrastructure at the Roosevelt room at White House in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said former President Joe Biden left him a "nice" letter inside the Resolute Desk at the White House, continuing an inauguration day tradition.

Trump told reporters he opened the letter on Monday evening and was thinking of making it publicly available. He said Biden advised him to enjoy his term and emphasized the importance of the role.

"It said, 'To Number 47,'" Trump said. "It was a very nice one .... just basically a little bit of an inspirational-type letter. Enjoy it. Do a good job. Important, very important how important the job is."

Trump, who was inaugurated to his second term in the White House on Monday, said he felt he should let people see the letter because it was "a positive" for Biden.

Trump found the handwritten letter in the desk on Monday during a ceremony in the Oval Office after a journalist asked if he had received a message from Biden. He held it up for the cameras, showing a handwritten "47," saying he would read it privately before deciding whether to release its contents.

Trump, the first president since Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s to serve nonconsecutive terms, left a letter for Biden when he took office in January 2021. Biden said it was a "very generous" letter but never released it publicly.

Former President Ronald Reagan started the modern letter-writing tradition in 1989, leaving one for his vice president and successor, George H.W. Bush, on stationery marked "Don't let the turkeys get you down."