North Korean envoy at UN warns of nuclear war possibility
By Richard Roth, CNN
Updated 5:32 PM ET, Mon April 17, 2017
United Nations (CNN) Only
at a North Korean press conference at the United Nations, can you hear a
diplomat say he hoped journalists had a good holiday weekend and then
warn of possible thermonuclear war.
North Korea has consistently issued
threats of war toward the United States in recent decades, but the Trump
administration’s announced end of a “strategic patience” policy with
Pyongyang has upped the ante in terms of warnings and bellicose
rhetoric. North Korea’s UN deputy representative, Kim In Ryong, on
Monday unleashed at a hastily called UN press conference a torrent of
threats, war scenarios and rhetoric aimed at the United States.
North Korea tensions
The press event was held hours after US Vice President Mike Pence visited the demilitarized zone
between North and South Korea. Pence warned North Korea not to test the
resolve of the United States “or the strength of our military forces.”
In New York, North Korea returned verbal
fire. North Korea’s UN ambassador condemned the US naval buildup in the
waters off the Korean Peninsula, plus the US missile attacks on Syria.
While reporters at the United Nations
have heard similar rhetoric from North Koreans before, Monday’s forceful
wording was on a higher level.
The deputy ambassador, reading from a
statement, told reporters, “The US is disturbing the global peace and
stability and insisting on the gangster-like logic that its invasion of a
sovereign state is ‘decisive, and just, and proportionate’ and
contributes to ‘defending’ the international order in its bid to apply
it to the Korean Peninsula as well.”
Kim said his country is ready to react
to any “mode of war” from the United States. Any missile or nuclear
strike by the United States would be responded to “in kind,” said the
North Korea representative.
The USS Carl Vinson carrier-led Navy strike group
was sent to the Korean Peninsula. North Korea’s UN representative said
the maneuvers show the “US reckless moves for invading the DPRK (North
Korea) have reached a serious phase.”
The United Nations is clearly worried.
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told journalists, “We’re obviously deeply
concerned about the rising tensions that we’ve seen in the Korean
Peninsula. We call on all to redouble their diplomatic efforts. “
The North Korean deputy ambassador was
asked to respond to President Donald Trump’s comment that North Korea
should “behave better.” He declined, instead wrapping up numerous
questions about US policy and Pence’s visit to the DMZ into a long
series of criticisms of the United States.
He denounced the United States for
introducing into the Korean Peninsula — what he called “the world’s
biggest hotspot” — its “huge nuclear strategic assets, seriously
threatening peace and security of the Peninsula and pushing the
situation there to a brink of war.”
North Korea staged a failed missile launch
over the weekend. Dujarric said, “I think the latest launch that we saw
over the weekend from the DPRK was troubling. We call on the DPRK to
take all the steps necessary to deescalate the situation and return to a
dialogue on denuclearization.”
North Korea is upset that the UN
Security Council will hold a meeting on the situation later this month,
with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson presiding.
Pyongyang again said it has sent letters demanding its own hearing at
the Security Council for alleged US abuses, but they have been ignored
by a council which has seen numerous council resolutions violated by
North Korean missile and nuclear tests.
