North Korea states 'nuclear war is unavoidable' as it declares first target will be Japan

[pampango]

48. Here's a thought: The UN should put North Korea in the dock at The Hague

Back in 1994, when it was discovered that North Korea had furtively amassed enough plutonium for two bombs, Bill Clinton's administration seriously considered invasion but was horrified at the estimated cost: $100bn and a million casualties. War was averted by the diplomacy of Jimmy Carter, who negotiated an "agreed framework", which soon collapsed and was later replaced by "six-party talks", which have stuttered on for the past 10 years. Meanwhile the military has kept processing uranium and testing missiles.

There are two ways the security council can proceed. One is emollient: give North Korea what, behind all the bluster, it really wants, namely readmission to the NPT as the sixth (or seventh, behind India) nuclear weapon power. That has already been rejected by John Kerry, and would be resisted by other states. It may, however, be the only way, short of military force, to restrain this impossible state. Readmission to the NPT with that status would at least impose on it an eventual duty to disarm (albeit a duty on which, without invasive IAEA inspections, it might cheat).

The other option is to treat North Korea's threat of nuclear war as a crime against humanity, and to refer its behaviour to the international criminal court prosecutor for investigation and potential indictment of Kim Jong-un and his generals.

Using or threatening to use nuclear weapons was declared a crime against humanity by the UN in 1984, while in 1996 the international court of justice ruled that "the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of (international) law", other than in "extreme circumstances of self-defence", which do not apply to North Korea's current threats of first use.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/07/north-korea-case-to-the-hague

I do not know that Kim ever leaves NK, but this may be a useful diplomatic strategy short of military action. I did not know that threatening to use nuclear weapons is a 'crime against humanity'. I'm glad that it is, just did not know that it has been so determined.