Seoul : North Korea on Thursday threatened to bolster its war capability and conduct a fourth nuclear test to cope with what it calls US hostility that led to the approval of a landmark UN resolution on its human rights violations. A UN committee on Tuesday adopted the resolution urging the Security Council to refer the North’s rights situation to the International Criminal Court.
It’s the first time a UN resolution included the idea that the North’s absolute leader Kim Jong Un could be targeted by prosecutors. Before the UN vote, a North Korean envoy threatened a nuclear test.
Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry called the resolution’s approval a “grave political provocation,” saying it was orchestrated by the US though it was drafted by the European Union and Japan. An unidentified ministry spokesman told state media that the North’s war deterrence will be strengthened in an “unlimited manner” to cope with US hostility, which is “compelling us not to refrain from conducting a new nuclear test any longer.”
His comments on the nuclear test were near identical to what Choe Myong Nam, a foreign ministry adviser for UN and human rights issues, said at the UN. The North has used similar rhetoric previously when there has been increased tension with other countries. Analysts say it’s unlikely the North will follow through on its threats to conduct a nuclear test because that would invite further international condemnation and derail efforts to attract foreign investment and aid to revive its moribund economy.