North Korea called off its trip to the Millennium Summit of the UN General Assembly after its delegation was allegedly ordered to undergo a strip search while transferring to an American Airlines flight in Frankfurt.
The delegation was led by Mr Kim Yong Nam, chairman of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, the country's designated head of state. There had been hopes that he would meet South Korean President Mr Kim Dae-Jung in New York to follow up on a June summit between the two Koreas.
But the delegation decided to return home because of its "rude and provocative" treatment by US security staff, Deputy Foreign Minister Mr Choe Su Hon told a news conference.
"US air security officials . . . opened suitcases and handbags of each member of the presidential entourage, forced them to take off clothes and shoes and thoroughly searched even the sensitive parts of the body," he said. There was no immediate reaction from the UN. "Everyone is scrambling to find out what has happened," including the US and German missions to the UN, said UN spokesman Mr Fred Eckhard.
A North Korean spokesman in Berlin said the delegation boarded a flight to Beijing right after the news conference.
The delegation had been due to join over 100 heads of state gathering in New York for the three-day summit which opens today.
American Airlines separately expressed regret at the inconvenience caused the diplomats, but said its staff were only doing their jobs.
Meanwhile, at the UN headquarters in New York, Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan hailed a British proposal to establish a staff training college for UN peacekeepers, as well as a British call to expand the 15-nation UN Security Council.
Mr Annan also told a pre-summit press conference the Israelis and Palestinians had never been closer to a peace agreement and he hoped further progress could be made when President Clinton meets their leaders in New York this week.