North Korea Condemns Guterres' Statement Calling Pyongyang's Actions 'Provocative'

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2023) North Korean Vice Foreign Minister for International Bodies Kim Son Gyong condemned on Wednesday UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' statement in which he urged Pyongyang to refrain from "provocative actions" on the Korean Peninsula amid recent missile launches.

On Monday, spokesman for the UN secretary-general Stephane Dujarric said that Guterres had condemned North Korea's recent missile launches and called on Pyongyang to cease "provocative actions."

"I express strong discontent and protest against the extremely unfair and imbalanced attitude taken by the UN secretary general, who ignored the dangerous military actions of the U.S. and south Korea but branded the DPRK's legitimate exercise of right to self-defence against the provocateurs as 'provocation' and 'threat'," Kim Son Gyong said in a statement, as quoted by the state-run Korean Central news Agency (KCNA).

The official added that North Korea had repeatedly advised Guterres to remain true to his duty and maintain justice as well as impartiality regarding the Korean peninsula issue.

"The UN secretary general should clearly understand that his unreasonable and prejudiced stand on the Korean peninsula issue is acting as a factor inciting the hostile acts of the U.S. and its followers against the DPRK," Kim Sung Kyung added.

Over the weekend, North Korea launched a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile. On Monday, Pyongyang also test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward Japan in its second weapons test in three days. On Wednesday, the United States, Japan and South Korea held ballistic missile defense exercises in the Sea of Japan in response to the recent missile launches by North Korea.