The North Korean Foreign Minister criticized on Monday the “deplorable attitude” of the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, in condemning the recent launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles by Pyongyang, the state news agency KCNA reported.
“I deeply regret that the UN Secretary-General has acted in a truly deplorable manner, ignoring the purpose and principles of the United Nations Charter and his own mission to maintain impartiality, objectivity and fairness in all matters,” the president said. boss. of North Korean diplomacy, Choe Son Hui, accusing António Guterres of being “a puppet of the United States”.
Choe Son Hui recalled that Pyongyang “recently asked the UN Secretary General to examine the issue of the Korean Peninsula impartially and objectively,” highlighting North Korea’s “self-defense” policy, “in a worrying security environment in the region, due to the dangerous military cooperation between the United States and its vassal forces”.
“However, the UN secretary general blamed North Korea and not the United States,” the minister said.
North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday that landed in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off the northern island of Hokkaido, according to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who called the launch “absolutely unacceptable.”
On the same day, the United Nations secretary-general called on North Korea to “immediately refrain” from any further “provocation” in response to the launch, reiterating his call on Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table.
The United States also reacted on Friday, announcing that it would convene the United Nations Security Council and expressing its intention to ask China, an ally of the North Korean regime, to help rein in Pyongyang, using its influence.
The UN Security Council announced on Saturday that it will meet on Monday to discuss the situation.
In response to North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile launch, the South Korean and US militaries responded with guided bomb tests from F-35 fighter jets and conducted other combined aerial maneuvers over the East Sea, two operations simulating attacks. preventive but also punitive operations against the North Koreans, in a message to Pyongyang.
The North Korean launch was carried out from the Sunan area, where the Pyongyang International Airport is located, a place chosen by the regime to also launch other intercontinental ballistic missiles in February, March and on the 3rd, although two of these launches were unsuccessful.
The launch joins a record 30 projectiles Pyongyang fired in early November in response to aerial maneuvers by Seoul and Washington, including a first-of-its-kind missile launched in November from the Sea of Japan.
Tension on the peninsula is currently reaching unprecedented levels due to North Korea’s weapons tests, allied maneuvers and the possibility that, according to satellite evidence, Kim Jong-un’s regime is prepared to carry out a first nuclear test since 2017.
The president of North Korea assured this Friday that he will use the atomic bomb in case of a nuclear attack against his country.
Pyongyang “will resolutely respond to nuclear weapons with nuclear weapons and full confrontation with full confrontation,” the head of state, quoted by KCNA, said in remarks during his supervision of the launch of the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), having called for the “acceleration of nuclear deterrence” in light of the “dangerous situation” on the peninsula.
The “new Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile,” hailed as a “crucial milestone in strengthening nuclear forces,” flew 999.2 kilometers before crashing into the waters of the Sea of Japan, according to KCNA.
Source: TSF
