SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea’s minister of foreign affairs slammed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as nothing more than a “puppet of the United States” for having joined the US-led denunciation of the North’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres previously released a statement firmly denouncing North Korea’s ICBM unveiling on Friday and urging the North to “completely stop any further provocations.”
Antonio Guterres’ statement came just after US and other nations issued similar criticism of the North’s ICBM test, which demonstrated the ability to strike any part of the continental United States.
“I frequently mistake the Secretary-General of the United Nations for a representative of the White House or the State Department of the United States,” North Korean Minister of foreign affairs Choe Son Hui declared in a statement carried by state run media.
“I convey my deep regret that the United Nations Secretary-General has chosen to take a very deplorable stance, completely disregarding the purpose and principles of the United Nations Charter as well as its proper mission, which is to preserve impartiality, objectivity, as well as equity in all matters.”
Choe accused Guterres of ignoring the United States and its allies having taken the North’s ICBM test to the United Nations Security Council, claiming that “this obviously shows that he’s a puppet of the United States.”
On Japan’s plea, the United Nations Security Council convened an urgent meeting on North Korea’s ICBM unveiling on Monday morning. However, it is uncertain whether it will be able to place new economic trade sanctions because Russia and China two of the council’s veto-wielding member nations, have previously opposed prior US and allied moves to toughen restrictions on the North over its forbidden ballistic missile tests earlier this year.
In response to North Korea’s missile test, top diplomats from the largest global industrial nations released a joint statement on Sunday urging for concrete action by the United Nations Security Council.
(North Korea’s) actions necessitate a united as well as strong response by the international community, along with the need for additional significant steps to be taken by the United Nations Security Council,” stated the Group of Seven nations’ foreign ministers namely; Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, the UK, as well as the United States.
Friday’s ICBM unveiling was the most recent in North Korea’s continuing barrage of missile tests, which experts say are intended to boost the country’s nuclear capability as well as give it more advantage in future diplomacy.
North Korea’s ruler, Kim Jong Un, stated “ he witnessed the unveiling of its Hwasong-17 missile on Friday as well as named it yet another “reliable and maximum-capacity” tool to counter US military threats.
According to some consultants, the Hwasong-17 is still in advancement, but it is the North’s longest-range missile and is capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads in order to defeat US anti-missile defense systems.
North Korea has claimed that its nuclear tests are a cautionary tale to the United States and South Korea in response to their string of recent drills, which the North believes are an invasion dry run. Washington and Seoul have claimed their actions are only defensive in nature.
Choe upheld her nation’s missile launches again on Monday, naming them a “legitimate as well as a just exercise of the right to defend oneself against “provoking nuclear war exercises” by the US and its allies. It’s “most astounding and despicable to me,” she stated, as Guterres continued to blame North Korea for a current flare-up in strained relations on the Korean Peninsula, rather than the US.
Choe threatened to initiate “fiercer” military reactions to the United States’ steps to strengthen its security pledge to Japan and South Korea a day prior to her country’s ICBM test.
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