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North Korea, arguably the world's most paranoid totalitarian regime, is a frustrating bargaining partner under the best of circumstances. But efforts to convince dictator Kim Jong Il to abandon his nuclear-weapons programs could be made even more intractable by a growing call in the U.S. for Pyongyang to be held accountable for the abysmal plight of its starving, oppressed citizens. A bill recently passed by the lower house of the U.S. Congress authorizes Washington to spend millions of dollars promoting human rights in the North and helping thousands of North Korean refugees—legislation an insecure Pyongyang says is calculated to encourage a mass exodus, like those that helped topple communist regimes in Eastern Europe in 1989. "The U.S. seems to calculate that it can use the issue of defectors for bringing down [North Korea]," said an unnamed Foreign Ministry official earlier this month on a Pyongyang-sanctioned website. "This is ... as foolish an act as trying to put an end to the sun."

North Korea was already displaying customary prickliness after South Korea gave asylum last month to 468 North Korean defectors who had fled their homeland and taken temporary refuge in Vietnam. South Korea's policy of peaceful dialogue with the North has been chilled by the controversy, which prompted Pyongyang to accuse its neighbor of "international terrorism and an unpardonable human-rights abuse." Fearing the North might do more than hurl invective, South Korean intelligence officials issued an unusual warning last week that Pyongyang could launch a terrorist strike against South Korean citizens who aid refugees. South Korea has long blamed the North for a 1983 bomb blast in Myanmar that killed 17 South Korean officials, including four Cabinet ministers, and for the 1987 bombing of a Korean Air flight that killed 115 people.

But renewed tension with the South could be less of a problem to Pyongyang than a growing movement in the U.S. to throw a spotlight on North Korea's human-rights record. On July 21, lawmakers in the House of Representatives unanimously approved a measure authorizing the government to spend $80 million over four years to provide shelter and legal aid to North Korean refugees and make it easier for them to seek asylum in the U.S. Another $16 million would go to nonprofit groups working for change in the North through methods such as smuggling in radios so that citizens can listen to forbidden Voice of America broadcasts. Aides to lawmakers working on the North Korea issue say there is at least a 50-50 chance the Senate could adopt the House bill and vote it into law next month.

The White House has yet to take a stand on the legislation—and little wonder, given that one of the bill's provisions could lob a monkey wrench into the six-nation talks. President George W. Bush's Administration has recently shown more willingness to parley with North Korea, making carefully hedged offers of oil and other aid in exchange for nuclear disarmament. The bill, however, specifies that the human rights of North Koreans should be "a key element in future negotiations." Diplomats participating in the six-nation talks—which include South Korea and China, a Pyongyang ally—have so far been careful not to link human rights to disarmament, because North Korea's representatives would probably storm out. Nevertheless, some American politicians find the U.S. bargaining position increasingly unconscionable. "Are we prepared to tell the North Korean people to give up their dreams of freedom because, in the interest of the status quo, we are willing to make a deal with their slave masters in Pyongyang?" asks Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican who backs a Senate bill on North Korean rights.

Whether or not the legislation passes, the six-party talks continue to sputter along with little progress. Pyongyang hinted last week that it might pull out of the next round, slated to be held next month, citing a hostile U.S. "smear campaign." With the U.S. presidential election approaching, some say Kim is stalling, hoping that John Kerry will win—and that the North will be able to get a better deal from a Democratic Administration.

Playing for time might not be Kim's best strategy. Some see the effort to bring North Korea's human-rights record front and center as a way to increase the pressure on Kim's regime—and ultimately to topple it. Says Gordon Flake, a North Korea expert at the Mansfield Center for Pacific Affairs in Washington: "The North Koreans aren't just paranoid to think that calls for improvements in human rights are synonymous with calls for regime change." U.S. lawmakers insist, however, that the legislation is meant only to address a humanitarian crisis. Says Congressman Jim Leach, the House bill's co-sponsor: "If it is such an embarrassment [to Pyongyang], they might want to move to treat their people better."

• Donald Macintyre | Seoul
• A growing U.S. focus on North Korea's human-rights record will complicate the six-nation talks