North Korea wants violation claims to end

SEOUL, March 20 (UPI) -- North Korea will not negotiate with the United States or South Korea until they stop accusing North Korea of of human rights violations, an official said.

An unidentified spokesman for the Committee for North Korea's Peaceful Reunification of Korea insisted in a statement that there are no human rights violations in North Korea despite international claims to the contrary, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said.

"There can be no 'human rights' issue in the DPRK in the light of the nature of its socialist system or its mission and aim, as it is the most dignified socialist system centered on the popular masses, which was chosen by the Korean people themselves and is being protected by them as their faith," the spokesman said, referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The spokesman also suggested that relations between North and South Korea were currently at a point where war was a possibility.

Yonhap said the official's comments came in the wake of South Korea's decision to co-sponsor a U.N. resolution that accused North Korea of human rights violations.