N. Korea May Assent to Defection

A rare public comment by North Korea’s leader, who declared Tuesday that his country has no need for cowards, became the strongest signal yet that a high-ranking official may be allowed to defect to South Korea.

China, meanwhile, said it wants a quick resolution to the crisis begun when Hwang Jang Yop walked into the South Korean Consulate in Beijing to become the highest-ranking official to defect from the North.

Hwang’s defection has heightened tension on the Korean peninsula.

Hwang is a former tutor of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who issued a statement Tuesday that was read on North Korean radio: “As the revolutionary song says, ‘Cowards, if you want to go, then go away. We will defend the red flag of revolution to the end.’ ”

The broadcast made no mention of Hwang, but came one day after the North indicated that it might accept Hwang’s defection.

North Korea said Monday that if Hwang “sought asylum, it means that he is a renegade and he is dismissed.”

South Korea took the comments to mean that the North might assent to Hwang’s defection if convinced that he fled willingly. The North had previously claimed that Hwang, 73, had been kidnapped.