North Korea on Monday denounced the United Nations for applying a “double standard” in criticizing Pyongyang’s recent missile test, accusing the international organization of infringing on the North’s sovereignty.
 
Jo Chol-su, director general of the department of international organizations within North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, issued a statement via the state-run Korea Central News Agency on Monday, after Pyongyang test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles last week, as the UN Security Council reportedly plans to hold a closed-door meeting Tuesday.
 
The UNSC’s sanctions committee on North Korea gathered for a meeting Friday, and Jo said the US called for the imposition of additional sanctions and the tightening of existing measures against Pyongyang, while denouncing the test as a violation of UN resolutions.
 
Jo said “it does not make any sense” that only the North’s “righteous self-defensive measures should be singled out for denunciation” when many other countries around the world fire all kinds of projectiles for the purpose of increasing their military strength.
 
“It constitutes a denial of sovereignty and an apparent double standard that the UNSC takes issue, on the basis of the UN ‘resolutions’ -- direct products of the US hostile policy,” he said.
 
Jo said if the UN continues to use this double standard, “it will only cause an aggravation, not amelioration, of situation and confrontation, not dialogue” on the Korean Peninsula. He also warned of countermeasures.
 
On Friday, North Korea confirmed that it had tested a new tactical guided missile the previous day. The test-firing, the North’s first major provocation since US President Joe Biden took office in January, comes as Washington is in the final stages of an ongoing policy review on the reclusive regime. Observers say the US could push for additional sanctions against North Korea, which could then provoke Pyongyang to further retaliate and escalate tension on the Korean Peninsula.
 
In responding to the North’s statement, South Korea’s Unification Ministry, in charge of inter-Korean affairs, stressed Monday that it was “not desirable” to take action that could hinder efforts to create momentum for talks. 
 
“Now is the time for the two Koreas and the US to make efforts to resume talks, and I would like to stress that any action that could make it difficult to establish a mood for talks is not desirable,” Lee Jong-joo, the ministry’s spokesperson, told a regular press briefing.
 
The ministry, emphasizing that military tensions should not be created under any circumstances, said it would continue to make efforts to achieve denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, establish peace on the peninsula and advance inter-Korean ties.
 
By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)