UNITED NATIONS (AP) – North Korea’s UN ambassador defended his country’s recent long-range missile launch during a rare appearance at the UN Security Council on Thursday, where he also accused the United States of driving the situation in Northeast Asia “to the brink of nuclear”. war.”
Kim Song told the council that Wednesday’s test flight of the Hwasong-18 developmental missile was a legitimate exercise of the North’s right to self-defense. He said the United States was increasing regional tensions with nuclear threats and deploying a nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea for the first time in 14 years.
Kim said the missile launch had ‘no adverse effect on the security of any neighboring country’, pointing to Japan’s announcement that the ICBM – which flew at a steep angle – landed in open water outside the exclusive economic zone of Japan.
South Korea’s UN Ambassador Hwang Joon-kook countered by asking, “How can an ICBM launch make neighboring countries look safe?”
Diplomats said Kim’s appearance was the first time a North Korean diplomat had addressed the Security Council since 2017.
Hwang said each of North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches advances the country’s technology toward its goal of having a nuclear weapons arsenal.
Immediately before the meeting, a statement from nine council members, including the United States and Japan, joined by South Korea, was read to reporters condemning the launch “in the strongest possible terms” and stressing that it was the 20th ballistic missile launch this year in flagrant fashion. violation of multiple Security Council resolutions prohibiting such testing.
The Security Council imposed sanctions after North Korea’s first nuclear explosion in 2006 and has strengthened them over the years in a total of 10 resolutions aimed – so far unsuccessfully – at cutting funds and curbing its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The latest sanctions resolution was passed by the Council in December 2017, and China and Russia vetoed a US-sponsored resolution in May 2022 that would have imposed new sanctions on a series of launches. intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The two permanent members with veto power have blocked any action by the council, including statements to the media since then.
The 10-nation statement says the Security Council cannot remain silent in the face of so many North Korean provocations and must send a message to all proliferators “that this behavior is illegal, destabilizing and will not be normalized.” He also called on all countries to confront North Korea’s illicit activities to generate revenue such as cybercrime.
But Russia and China remained opposed to any action by the Council.
Chinese Ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun took note of the latest missile test but criticized increased US military pressure on North Korea and its deployment of strategic weapons on the Korean Peninsula.
He said the long-held view of the United States and other countries that North Korea poses a security threat and their obsession with sanctions put North Korea under “existential pressure”, while its own legitimate concerns of the country “have never been taken into account”.
Zhang said history since the 1990s clearly shows that dialogue and negotiation are the only way to ease tensions, and he urged the United States and North Korea to resume talks.
The statement from the 10 countries indicates that they remain committed to diplomacy without preconditions. Song made no mention of the talks, which have stalled since 2018.