N. Korea sends protest to U.S. over sanctions

TOKYO — A North Korean parliamentary committee sent a rare letter of protest to the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday over its new package of tougher sanctions.

The sanctions were condemned as a “heinous act against humanity” by the foreign affairs committee of the North’s Supreme People’s Assembly, according to a state media report.

It was not immediately clear how the protest was conveyed since North Korea and the U.S. have no diplomatic relations and virtually no official channels of communication. The report, carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency, said the letter was sent Friday.

The Republican-led House overwhelmingly voted May 4 to impose the new sanctions, which target North Korea’s shipping industry and use of what the bill called “slave labor.” The Senate would need to approve the sanctions before they could be implemented.

It’s not unusual for Pyongyang to condemn Washington’s moves to censure it, but direct protests to Congress are rare. Pyongyang normally expresses its displeasure with Washington through statements by the Foreign Ministry or other institutions, or through representatives at its United Nations mission in New York.

Staff of lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said they had not received a copy of the letter. However, California Rep. Brad Sherman, the top-ranking Democrat on the committee’s Asia subcommittee, said the letter, which he saw online, demonstrated North Korea’s vulnerability to sanctions.

“It is the regime of Kim Jong Un that should rethink its dangerous nuclear weapons tests, ballistic missile tests, abhorrent human rights record, and state support for terrorism. Sanctions will be tightened if North Korea continues these activities,” Mr. Sherman said in a statement. He added the U.S. should be ready to hold talks and relieve sanctions if the North agrees to real concessions on its nuclear and missile programs.

Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Dongguk University, said it’s not unprecedented for the North to directly contact the U.S. government. Pyongyang sent letters to the U.S. in 1984 calling for the opening of three-way talks among Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington.

But he said Friday’s protest was also notable in that it was sent by the recently revived parliamentary foreign affairs committee, which was discontinued by Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, in 1998.

The move to restart the committee has been seen as an attempt to create a “window” for contacts with the outside world — Seoul and Washington in particular.

Pyongyang has been critical of recent military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea that it sees as a prelude to invasion. This year’s war games were the biggest ever and reportedly included training for precision strikes and assaults intended to take out Mr. Kim and his top lieutenants.

The North also announced last week that it thwarted what it claims was a CIA-backed attempt to assassinate Mr. Kim. On Friday, its Central Public Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement suggesting the U.S. and South Korea are harboring suspects and should extradite them to the North immediately.

At the same time, however, a senior North Korean Foreign Ministry official flew to Oslo, Norway, this week to meet with former U.S. officials and scholars in what is known as “track 2” talks on a range of nuclear, security and bilateral issues. The talks are an informal opportunity for the two sides to exchange opinions and concerns.