North Korea on Sunday accused the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) of indulging in double standards over the military activities of its member states.
The UNSC held a closed-door meeting on Friday upon the request of the United States (US) and other members to discuss North Korea’s recent missile launches. Criticising the body and the meeting agenda, the Korean Central News Agency cited a press statement made by Jo Chol Su, the director of the Department of International Organisations of the Foreign Ministry of North Korea, on Sunday.
Calling its recent missile launches “self-defence,” Jo Chol Su said that the UNSC meeting, which was held “at the instigation of the US… faulted the activities of the DPRK.” DPRK is short for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Jo Chol Su accused the US, the United Kingdom, and France of wrongly portraying the North’s recent test-launch of hypersonic missile Hwasong-8 as a “violation” of UN resolutions and said that the countries had falsely claimed that the launches were “threats to the international peace and security of neighbouring countries.”
“All the weapon tests of the DPRK are conducted thoroughly in the territorial land, air and seas of the DPRK and in the safe open seas and they have never posed any threats or harm to the security of its neighbouring countries...Demanding that we renounce our right to self-defence means an expression of its intention not to acknowledge the DPRK as a sovereign state,” Jo Chol Su countered.
He further accused the committee of turning a blind eye to the military activities of the US. “The UNSC keeps mum about large-scale joint military exercises between the US and its vassal forces and about their frequent attack weapon tests, but it faults the normal and planned self-defensive measures taken by the DPRK. This is a denial of impartiality, objectivity and equilibrium, lifelines of the UN activities, and an evident manifestation of double-dealing standard,” the diplomat said.
Warning of “consequences,” Jo Chol Su also said that “the UN Security Council had better think what consequences it will bring in the future in case it tries to encroach upon the sovereignty of the DPRK again with the double-dealing stick, while attaching weight to the U.S.-style brigandish way of thinking and judgment.”
The developments come after Pyongyang fired newly developed anti-aircraft missiles over the past month. These include a previously unseen hypersonic missile, ballistic missiles, and a cruise missile with potential nuclear capabilities.
The tests were condemned by the US State Department last week, which urged Pyongyang to resume dialogue. “This launch violates multiple UN Security Council Resolutions and poses a threat to the DPRK’s neighbours and the international community. We remain committed to a diplomatic approach to the DPRK and call on them to engage in dialogue,” it said.
However, while Pyongyang’s ties with Washington remain frayed, it restored cross-border communication with Seoul on Monday.
“With the restoration of the South-North communication line, the government evaluates that a foundation for recovering inter-Korean relations has been provided,” South Korea’s unification ministry said today.
North Korea Warns UN of Consequences for Double Standards on Missile Test
A senior North Korean Foreign Ministry official warned the UN of consequences after France called on Pyongyang to fully implement UN resolutions that ban its ballistic missile tests.
October 4, 2021
SOURCE: YONHAP/AP/FILE