North Korea on Tuesday deplored UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ condemnation of recent North Korean missile launches and calls on Pyongyang to end provocations and return to dialogue.
“We deeply regret that the UN Secretary-General issued a statement baselessly criticizing the DPRK. [República Popular Democrática da Coreia, nome oficial do Norte] for their righteous self-defense reaction in the face of US military provocations,” the North Korean Foreign Ministry said.
Guterres acts as a “spokesman for Washington”, which he considers “deplorable”, since “the UN is a world body based on justice and objectivity, so it should not allow itself to be biased by the interests and visions of a great power” . the ministry said in a statement quoted by the official KCNA news agency.
On Friday, the UN Secretary-General reiterated “his calls on North Korea to immediately desist from further provocative acts and fully comply with its international obligations under all relevant Security Council resolutions,” Stéphane Dujarric stressed. Guterres spokesman.
According to the statement, the secretary-general is “deeply concerned about the tension on the Korean peninsula and concerned about the increase in confrontational rhetoric” and urged Pyongyang to take “immediate steps to resume negotiations.”
All parties involved, he added, must promote an environment conducive to dialogue.
Guterres’ remarks came a day after North Korea launched three ballistic missiles, one of which triggered alerts in various regions of Japan, despite apparently not flying over the archipelago due to a mid-flight failure.
North Korea launched more than 20 missiles in just two days, in response to military exercises by the United States and South Korea, which were due to end on Friday but have been extended.
Following the allies’ announcement of the extension of the exercises, North Korea fired around 80 artillery shells into a maritime “buffer zone” in the Kumkang area of Kangwon province on the country’s east coast on Thursday. .
The shootings are “a clear violation” of the 2018 inter-Korean agreement, which established these “buffer zones” to reduce tensions between the two sides, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
On Friday, Japan announced that it will improve its ‘J-Alert’ system, which alerts the public to emergencies such as missiles or earthquakes, following the latest missile launches from North Korea.
Japanese government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno made the announcement, following recent criticism over the civilian alert system reportedly slow to respond to North Korea’s launch.
Source: TSF
