N. Korea warns US could ‘pay dearly’ for human rights criticism

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un smiles during a visit to a military farm in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on Oct. 9, 2019. The visit marked Kim's first public appearance since the breakdown of working-level nuclear talks with the United States in Sweden on Oct. 5. (Yonhap). Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

SEOUL, Dec 21, 2019, AFP. North Korea on Saturday warned Washington would only aggravate tensions and “pay dearly” for criticizing Pyongyang over human rights, with nuclear negotiations between the two deadlocked, Japan Today reported.

The international community has frequently condemned North Korea for political repression, and for decades of prioritizing its military and its nuclear weapons program over adequately providing for its people.

Criticizing Pyongyang’s human rights record would only aggravate the “already tense situation” on the Korean peninsula, “like pouring oil over burning fire”, a North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The statement was in response to concern expressed by a U.S. State Department official over North Korea’s human rights situation, KCNA said.

The United States “will be made to pay dearly” for such remarks, the North Korean spokesperson was quoted by KCNA as saying.

The United Nations General Assembly this week had also condemned Pyongyang’s “long-standing and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross” violations of human rights.

Negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear program have been deadlocked since a summit in Hanoi collapsed in February, and Pyongyang has said that if Washington fails to make it an acceptable offer, it will adopt an unspecified “new way”.

Earlier this month, it even promised a “Christmas gift” if the U.S. does not come up with concessions by the end of the year.

It has carried out a series of static tests at its Sohae rocket facility this month, after a number of weapons launches in recent weeks, some of them described as ballistic missiles by Japan and others — which Pyongyang is banned from testing under U.N. sanctions.

The Pentagon’s top general said Friday the U.S. military is ready for anything from North Korea.

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