By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
South Korea says it is watching North Korean nuclear movements ever closer, after Pyongyang vowed to bolster its military “limitlessly” on Thursday.
The North’s threat came via its foreign ministry as reported by Pyongyang’s official KCNA media channel – in response to Tuesday’s vote by a United Nations committee to refer the country’s alleged crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court.
As North Korea reiterated a previous threat that it was being compelled to carry out a fourth ever nuclear test, Seoul issued its own counter-warning.
South Korea’s defense ministry spokesperson Kim Min-seok told reporters at a briefing that his nation’s own military was fully prepared and would “not tolerate any provocations or threats.”
“Threats from North Korea could mean a nuclear test or a ballistic missile launch that would threaten peace not only on the Korean Peninsula but in the world, which should be completely deterred,” Kim insisted.
Pyongyang’s foreign ministry was equally firm in its condemnation of what it saw as Washington’s aim to “make a pretext for military intervention.”
“We completely reject the forceful passage of this resolution, led by the United States,” the statement claimed despite the text being drafted by the European Union and Japan – and the U.N.-supported commission of inquiry reporting “systematic, widespread and grave” human rights violations in the North earlier this year.
The resolution in question is set to go to a U.N. General Assembly vote next month.
The Koreas are technically still at war as they never signed a peace treaty at the end of their 1950-53 conflict – while the U.S. has 28,500 military personnel stationed in the South.
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