A Russian diplomat alluded to an apocalyptic scenario when discussing what might happen if North Korea achieves its goal of becoming a power with functional, long-range, nuclear-armed missiles.
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The Russian news agency Tass reported Monday that Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morulov said during a conference in Seoul, South Korea, that the “apocalyptic development” of the situation must be stopped.
“A scenario of the apocalyptic development of the situation on the Korean Peninsula exists, and we cannot turn our blind eye to it,” he said. “I hope that a common sense, pragmatism and an instinct of self-preservation would prevail among our partners to exclude such negative scenario.”
Morulov also said that North Korea has been warned “many times” that its path to what it has called “nuclear justice” would not be tolerated by the rest of the world.
“We have told North Korea many times that for us [its] nuclear status is unacceptable. We continue this work with the North Korean counterparts presenting to them our position,” he added.
Russia issued a similar warning in October that North Korea might have its sights set on the West Coast of the United States.
If you’re still unsure, even after all of the missile tests, warnings and verbal spats between Trump and Kim Jong-un, of the threat North Korea represents, look no further than the way its own people have been treated in recent days.
A 24-year-old soldier in the North Korean army identified only as Oh abandoned his post weeks ago, causing an international uproar.
Oh suffered multiple gunshot wounds during his escape. The shots were fired by fellow soldiers. Although he has been assured it will not happen, the thing Oh fears the most is being sent back to North Korea, the New York Post reported.
Surgeons were disturbed to discover in him a condition they hadn’t seen before outside of textbooks. Oh had tuberculosis and hepatitis B, but the 10-inch parasitic worms they removed from his intestines took these doctors to territory uncharted in their medical experience.
“In my 20 years as a surgeon, I have only seen something like this in a medical textbook,” surgeon Lee Cook-Jong said. “He’s quite a strong man.”
Doctors were also vexed by the raw corn kernels in Oh’s stomach.
Kim Jong-un has already “replaced” the border guards who fired on Oh but allowed him to escape.
The North Korean leader has also banned fun.
South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, quoting the National Intelligence Service (NIS), reported a week back that the North Korean government has banned drinking and singing, and has also begun investigating its military.
“[Pyongyang] has devised a system whereby party organs report people’s economic hardships on a daily basis, and it has banned any gatherings related to drinking, singing and other entertainment and is strengthening control of outside information,” the NIS said, according the news agency.
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Related to this, an inspection of the military politburo has taken place. It was “the first time in 20 years” this has happened in North Korea, Reuters reported, and it’s intended to purge an “impure attitude.”