Report: North Korea backs Obama over McCain, a Bush 'variant
Thursday, June 19, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
East-Asia-Intel.com
North Korea prefers Democratic candidate Barack Obama over Republican John McCain, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan said.
The communist country, which has survived a relatively hawkish Bush administration, considers McCain "a variant of Bush" and "nothing better than a scarecrow of neoconservatives," according to the Choson Sinbo, a newspaper run by ethnic Koreans in Japan.
The organization of Koreans, called Chongryon, has served as Pyongyang's de facto embassy in Japan, which has no diplomatic ties with North Korea.
Pyongyang favors Obama because he has vowed to meet leaders of rogue states, such as the North Korean leader, without conditions if elected.
The newspaper expressed hope of better ties between North Korea and the United States under an Obama administration, saying that even if McCain won the election, he could not reverse U.S.-North Korea ties.
The report said the campaign shows that the United States has undergone a fundamental change and pointed out the obvious: Hillary is a woman, Obama is black and McCain is old.
Obama has said that he may be willing to sit down face-to-face with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il if that's what it takes to resolve the continuing nuclear tension on the Korean peninsula.
McCain said last month that it is of vital interest to the United States to end nuclear weapons programs by countries like North Korea, calling Kim a "dictator."
McCain said a warning by President John F. Kennedy "resonates more today than ever before. North Korea pursues a nuclear weapons program to the point where, today, the dictator Kim Jong-Il has tested a nuclear weapon and almost certainly possesses several more nuclear warheads."