North Korea urged the UN Security Council to impartially handle the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang, warning yesterday that ongoing tension over the incident could trigger nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula.
The threat came hours after the country’s UN ambassador told reporters at a rare news conference in New York that its military will respond if the world body questions or condemns North Korea over the sinking. Ambassador Sin Son-ho repeated his regime’s position that it had nothing to do with the sinking that killed 46 South Korean sailors.
“The UN Security Council must fulfill its responsibilities by bringing to light the truth of the incident impartially and objectively,” North Korea’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary yesterday.
The paper said tension is running so high on the peninsula that any accidental incident could trigger an all-out conflict, even a nuclear war.
“Indeed, a very dangerous situation — in which a minor accidental incident could trigger an all-out war and develop into a nuclear war — is fostered on the Korean Peninsula now,” said the commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea, which is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least a half-dozen nuclear weapons, has made similar threats in the past to wield its atomic arsenal in times of tension with the outside world. Experts are doubtful, however, if the country has the means to use a nuclear weapon in battle.
South Korea has taken punitive measures against North Korea, including trade restrictions, after blaming it for torpedoing the warship Cheonan near their tense sea border on March 26. The North reacted angrily, declaring it was cutting off ties with Seoul and threatening to attack.
South Korea’s military dismissed North Korea’s nuclear warning as “routine rhetoric” but said it was closely watching the North Korean military.
“We’re maintaining our vigilance” against any North Korean provocation, said an officer at the Joint Chiefs of Staff on condition of anonymity citing department policy.
There have been no signs of unusual activity by the North’s military in border areas, he added.
When asked during Tuesday’s news conference if his country would rule out the use of nuclear weapons in response to any Security Council action, Sin said: “Nuclear weapons is our deterrent because we are always threatened by outside forces.”
Sin called the accusation against North Korea “a farce concocted by the US and South Korea in pursuit of their political purposes” and claimed the warship ran aground, rather than being torpedoed.
“If the Security Council release any documents against us condemning or questioning us in any document, then myself as [a] diplomat, I can do nothing — but follow-up measures will be carried out by our military forces,” he warned.
The council said in a statement after the Monday presentations it is concerned the ship sinking could endanger peace on the Korean Peninsula and it urged Seoul and Pyongyang to refrain from any provocative acts.
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