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Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se delivers a keynote speech to the 71st UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22. (AP/Yonhap News)

A high-ranking South Korean government official visiting New York for the UN General Assembly said on Sept. 22 that North Korea “habitually commits crimes and says it will keep on killing.”

“What is the criminal going to think when the neighbors it victimizes say, ‘We need to have dialogue quickly so we aren’t victimized again’?” the official asked.

The official’s remarks came during a talk with correspondents from South Korean media in response to a question on whether Seoul plans to pursue dialogue alongside sanctions.

“[The criminal] is going to think, ‘I can do bad things whenever I want and then just have dialogue.’ If we respond with dialogue every time [North Korea] has done bad things, we’re rewarding bad behavior,” the official continued.

Beyond the matter of the official crossing a line by likening North Korea to a “killer,” the episode illustrated how the Park Geun-hye administration’s North Korea policy is being decided by emotional responses instead of cool-headed analysis of Pyongyang’s intentions. In addition, the remarks could be seen as a distortion of the facts, with most South Korean and US experts agreeing that Seoul has at least succeeded in slowing or halting North Korea’s nuclear development when it has negotiated with Pyongyang. The official made no mention of the Park administration’s policy failures in failing to prevent the North from strengthening its nuclear capabilities.

The same official was also critical of the the North Korean regime’s “two-track approach.”

“Despite the worst flooding in over seventy years resulting in hundreds of people losing their lives and countless people being victimized, the regime has carried out a nuclear test, and then recently went to the UN to ask for humanitarian assistance,” the official said.

The same official avoided an immediate response when asked if North Korea’s nuclear development program means Seoul does not intend to provide humanitarian assistance in response to the flooding.

Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se suggested it was “time to reconsider whether North Korea is fit to be a member of the peace-loving UN,” citing its repeated violations of past UNSCR resolutions in a keynote speech to the 71st UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22. With no precedent to date of a country losing its UN membership, the remarks appeared intended to influence international opinion on the issue. Yun also said that North Korea’s human rights infringements “cannot be allowed to go unpunished any longer” and that it was “time to take action now.”

On this issue, the high-ranking government official said UN sanctions “could materialize in the area of human rights in addition to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.”

“I anticipate there will be quite tough additional measures from the US administration going ahead,” the official added.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, who is also in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, has reportedly not requested to meet with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent in New York

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