N Korea accuses UN of double standard over missile firings, warns of consequences

North Korea on March 29 accused the United Nations of a “double standard” over its reaction to the North’s recent missile launches, warning it of a serious consequence. On March 25, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea in a defiance of U.N. resolutions that ban such launches by North Korea. The U.N. Security Council subsequently adopted a resolution to renew the mandate of U.N. experts monitoring sanctions against North Korea. Some experts say North Korea’s missile launches, the first of their kind in a year, were aimed at applying pressure on the new U.S. government of President Joe Biden. “It constitutes a denial of sovereignty and an apparent double standard that the UNSC ... takes issue with the normal activities which fall within the right of our state to self-defense,” senior North Korean Foreign Ministry official Jo Chol Su said in a statement carried by state media. Observers say North Korea could test-fire longer-range missiles in coming weeks. (AP) This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.