SEOUL: North Korea angrily rejected yesterday a UN inquiry into its human rights record and vowed to step up its all-out struggle against the US.
The UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution on Thursday to establish for the first time a commission to probe “the systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights” in North Korea.
North Korea posted a new propaganda video, showing paratroopers descending on Seoul in an invasion scenario that envisages taking around 150,000 US residents in South Korea hostage.
The four-minute A Short, Three-Day War begins with images of a massive artillery and rocket barrage, followed by a large-scale land and air assault with North Korean troops streaming over the border.
Meanwhile, South Korea approved the first shipment of humanitarian aid to North Korea since military tensions spiralled after Pyongyang’s rocket launch in December and nuclear test last month.
Eugene Bell, a South Korean charity, was given the green light to ship tuberculosis medicine worth 678 million won ($605,000) for its medical service programme in the North, the Unification Ministry said.
But the ministry stressed the decision should not be seen as a conciliatory gesture at a time tensions on the Korean peninsula.
In Beijing, US officials involved in enforcing international sanctions against North Korea expressed optimism yesterday that China was willing to cooperate to disrupt financing for Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes.
“China is part of the solution and is working with us in a cooperative spirit,” Dan Fried, the State Department’s sanctions coordinator, told reporters in Beijing.
Fried and David Cohen, the Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, held talks with Chinese officials on Thursday and yesterday, following visits to Tokyo and Seoul earlier in the week.
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