North Korean Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Pak Kil Yon has blamed the United States for continued tension on the Korean peninsula.

In his address Tuesday at the U.N. General Assembly the head of the North Korean delegation said the region would turn into a theatre of war if Pyongyang did not have a powerful deterrent. He also called for a peace accord to end the Korean War instead of the 1953 armistice.

Pak said powerful nations use force against other sovereign states in an attempt to dominate regions of their strategic interest under the pretext of protecting civilians and defending peace. He said they use the United Nations in this process. He called for a U.N. reform to enhance the authority of the General Assembly.

Human Rights Watch Asia deputy director Elaine Peterson responded that if the North Korean government is concerned about the United Nations being misused in so-called interference' in its domestic affairs, then it should stop the egregious human-rights violations that characterize North Korea today.

She said the world body should devote more energy to North Korea, including establishing a commission to investigate Pyongyang's alleged crimes against humanity.