North Korea: North Korea has marked this weekend's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Korean War truce by demanding the United States apologise and give compensation for crimes ranging from genocide to drug smuggling.
The "international tribunal on US crimes" yesterday pronounced President Bush and his 10 predecessors going back to Harry Truman guilty of crimes against the UN charter, human rights declarations and "the principles of the military tribunal of Nuremberg" among others.
"The US government must make an official apology for all its criminal acts in Korea and make due compensation for physical, mental and material losses inflicted upon the Korean people," North Korea's KCNA news agency quoted the verdict as saying. Those responsible for the "crimes" should "be sentenced to criminal punishment" and the US Congress should "investigate and address this issue", it said.
The tribunal also repeated Pyongyang's official position that Washington "abandon its hostile policy towards the DPRK, sign a non-aggression treaty and settle peace issues in bilateral talks".
The verdict calls for the US to withdraw its 37,000 troops in the South immediately and end political pressure, sanctions and "psychological warfare" against North Korea.
The purported trial in absentia of the 11 US leaders and all US foreign policy, military and intelligence officials dating back to 1950 opened in Pyongyang on Wednesday - (Reuters)