North Korea accuses UN of 'double standards'; slams Biden for 'deep-seated hostility'

After the UN ordered an investigative committee to probe Pyongyang's latest “ballistic missile launch” into the sea off the eastern coast just outside Japan’s Economic Zone (EEZ), which it alleged violated the UNSC 1718 resolution, North Korea’s top diplomat accused the agency of ‘double standards’. Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide, along with South Korean counterparts, and the United States confirmed last week that North Korea, which has been banned by the UN under enormous sanctions to test ballistic missiles and nuclear armament, had launched two missiles in a display of military provocation just outside the Japanese territorial waters. 

While Japan dispatched a formal complaint alleging threat and belligerence on part of North Korea’s military via its embassy in China, the UN earlier on Friday called for a panel of experts to investigate the latest “new types” of the missiles launches that Pyongyang was testing despite multiple embargoes on its ambitious weaponry programs. The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted at least nine major sanctions resolutions on North Korea to regulate its nuclear stockpiling and ballistic missile activities on the Korean peninsula. 

In addition to sanctions, the resolution gives the UN member states the authority to interdict and inspect North Korean cargo within its territory and subsequently seize and dispose of the illicit shipments. UNSC resolution also mandates Pyongyang to rejoin the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which it acceded to in 1985 but abruptly withdrew in 2003 over former US President Trump’s allegations that the communist nation was pursuing an illegal uranium enrichment program, according to the Arms Control Association. 

Pyongyang warns UN causing 'more aggravation'

On March 28, North's official KCNA news agency reported a senior foreign ministry official Jo Chol Su as berating the United Nations for its intrusive policies. While he explained that the launch was of a new "tactical guided missile" that North Korea deems as necessary for bolstering its defense systems, Su accused UNSC of threatening North Korea for evading sanctions when it was only modernizing its arsenals. He reiterated that many other countries across the globe were firing “all kinds of projectiles”. Pyongyang warned that the United Nation was only causing more aggravation and escalating tensions on Korean Peninsula. 

Earlier in response to North Korea's ballistic missiles launch, US President Joe Biden told an NBC presser that “there will be responses if they [North Korea] choose to escalate. We will respond accordingly,’ Biden said. Meanwhile responding to US president’s threats of escalation on the state-run KCNA news,  a senior North Korean official said that Washington was exposing its ‘deep-seated hostility’ against Pyongyang with its “thoughtless remarks” and condemnation, adding that the US chief executive [Biden] was faulting a routine testfire, an exercise of the state's right to self-defense, as the violation of UN 'resolutions.” 

(Image Credit: AP)