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WORLD

North Korea tests new long- 'Environment Threats
range cruise missile Greatest Challenge To Human

North Korea said Monday Rights'
that it successfully tested
newly developed long - The UN's rights chief warned on Monday that
range cruise missiles over environmental threats were worsening conflicts
the weekend, the first worldwide and would soon constitute the biggest
known testing activity in challenge to human rights.Michelle Bachelet said
months, underscoring climate change, pollution and nature loss were already
how the country continues to expand its military having a severe impact but that countries were
capabilities amid a stalemate in nuclear negotiations consistently failing to take action to curb the damage.
with the United States.The state-run Korean Central "The interlinked crises of pollution, climate change and
News Agency reported that the missiles showed they can biodiversity act as threat multipliers, amplifying
hit targets 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away on Saturday conflicts, tensions and structural inequalities, and
forcing people into increasingly vulnerable situations,"
and Sunday. State media published photos of a projectile Bachelet told the opening of the 48th session of the UN
being fired from a launcher truck and what looked like a Human Rights Council in Geneva. "As these
missile traveling in the air.The North hailed its new environmental threats intensify, they will constitute
missiles as a “strategic weapon of great significance” — the single greatest challenge to human rights of our
wording that implies they were developed with the intent era." The former Chilean president said the threats
to arm them with nuclear warheads.North Korea says it were already "directly and severely impacting a broad
needs nuclear weapons in order to deter what it claims is range of rights, including the rights to adequate food,
hostility from the U.S. and South Korea — and has long water, education, housing, health, development, and
attempted to use the threat of such an arsenal to extract even life itself". She said environmental damage
much-needed economic aid or otherwise apply pressure. usually hurt the poorest people and nations the most,
The North and ally China faced off against South Korea as they often have the least capacity to respond.
and U.S.-led U.N. forces in the 1950-53 Korean War, a Bachelet said recent months have unleashed "extreme
conflict that ended in an armistice that has yet to be and murderous climate events", while drought was
replaced with a peace treaty.The international potentially forcing millions of people into misery,
community is bent on getting the North to abandon its hunger and displacement. Bachelet said tackling the
nuclear arsenal and has long used a combination of the crisis was "doable", suggesting that spending to revive
threat of sanctions and the promise of economic help to economies after the Covid pandemic could be focused
try to influence the North. But U.S.-led negotiations on on environmentally friendly projects.But she said
the nuclear issue have been stalled since the collapse of a countries had not taken this approach consistently and
summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and were even failing to fund and implement commitments
then-U.S. President Donald Trump in 2019. At that time, made under the Paris climate accords. "We must set the
the Americans rejected Kim’s demand for major bar higher -- indeed, our common future depends on
sanctions relief in exchange for dismantling an aging it," the UN rights chief said.Bachelet said that at the 12-
nuclear complex.North Korea ended a yearlong pause in day COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, set to begin on
ballistic tests in March by firing two short-range missiles October 31, her office would push for more ambitious,
into the sea, continuing a tradition of testing new U.S. rights-based commitments. Bachelet also said
administrations to measure Washington’s response. environmental activists were threatened, harassed and
Kim’s government has so far rejected the Biden killed often with impunity.In her opening global
administration’s overtures for dialogue, demanding that update, Bachelet touched on the human rights
Washington abandon its “hostile” policies first — a situations in several countries, including Chad, the
reference to the U.S. maintaining sanctions and a Central African Republic, Haiti, India, Mali and
military alliance with South Korea. Tunisia.