SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday proclaimed the UN’s unwavering commitment to full denuclearization North Korea, even as a divided Security Council, leaves more room for the isolated country to expand its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
Meeting with the South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol In Seoul, Guterres said he was affirming the “clear commitment of the UN to the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the DPRK”, using the initials of North Korea’s official name. North, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“There is a fundamental objective to bring peace, security and stability to the whole region,” he told Yoon, while praising South Korea’s participation in international peacekeeping efforts. peace and the fight against climate change.
Guterres, who arrived in South Korea on Thursday, later met with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, who said the UN-led international community should send a stern and unified message to North Korea according to which its nuclear ambitions will not be tolerated.
Park called for UN assistance in finding an effective solution to the North Korean nuclear issue, and Guterres expressed support for South Korean efforts to stabilize peace on the peninsula, the foreign ministry said.
North Korea has tested more than 30 ballistic missiles this year, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile flights since 2017, as a leader Kim Jong Un is pushing to advance its nuclear arsenal in the face of what North Korea has called “gangster-style” US pressure and sanctions.
The unusually fast pace of weapons demonstrations also underscores the tightrope strategy aimed at forcing Washington to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power and to negotiate sanctions relief and security concessions that he badly needs a position of strength, experts say. The US and South Korean governments also said the North was preparing to carry out its first nuclear test since September 2017, when it claimed to have detonated a nuclear warhead designed for its ICBMs.
While the Biden administration has said it will push for additional sanctions if North Korea conducts another nuclear test, the prospects for meaningful punitive action are unclear. China and Russia recently vetoed US-sponsored resolutions at the UN Security Council that would have increased sanctions on the North for some of its ballistic missile tests this year, underscoring the divide between the permanent members of the council which escalated about Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Guterres’ meetings with South Korean officials came a day after North Korea claimed a widely disputed victory over Covid-19 but also blamed rival South Korea for the outbreak, vowing retaliation.” deadly”. The North insists its initial infections were caused by leaflets and other items carried across the border on balloons launched by South Korean anti-Pyongyang activists, a claim Seoul describes as unscientific and ” ridiculous”.
North Korea has a habit of increasing pressure on the South when it does not get what it wants from the United States, and there are fears that the North Korean threat could portend a provocation, which could include nuclear or missile tests or even border skirmishes.
Meeting with the South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol In Seoul, Guterres said he was affirming the “clear commitment of the UN to the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the DPRK”, using the initials of North Korea’s official name. North, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“There is a fundamental objective to bring peace, security and stability to the whole region,” he told Yoon, while praising South Korea’s participation in international peacekeeping efforts. peace and the fight against climate change.
Guterres, who arrived in South Korea on Thursday, later met with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, who said the UN-led international community should send a stern and unified message to North Korea according to which its nuclear ambitions will not be tolerated.
Park called for UN assistance in finding an effective solution to the North Korean nuclear issue, and Guterres expressed support for South Korean efforts to stabilize peace on the peninsula, the foreign ministry said.
North Korea has tested more than 30 ballistic missiles this year, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile flights since 2017, as a leader Kim Jong Un is pushing to advance its nuclear arsenal in the face of what North Korea has called “gangster-style” US pressure and sanctions.
The unusually fast pace of weapons demonstrations also underscores the tightrope strategy aimed at forcing Washington to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power and to negotiate sanctions relief and security concessions that he badly needs a position of strength, experts say. The US and South Korean governments also said the North was preparing to carry out its first nuclear test since September 2017, when it claimed to have detonated a nuclear warhead designed for its ICBMs.
While the Biden administration has said it will push for additional sanctions if North Korea conducts another nuclear test, the prospects for meaningful punitive action are unclear. China and Russia recently vetoed US-sponsored resolutions at the UN Security Council that would have increased sanctions on the North for some of its ballistic missile tests this year, underscoring the divide between the permanent members of the council which escalated about Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Guterres’ meetings with South Korean officials came a day after North Korea claimed a widely disputed victory over Covid-19 but also blamed rival South Korea for the outbreak, vowing retaliation.” deadly”. The North insists its initial infections were caused by leaflets and other items carried across the border on balloons launched by South Korean anti-Pyongyang activists, a claim Seoul describes as unscientific and ” ridiculous”.
North Korea has a habit of increasing pressure on the South when it does not get what it wants from the United States, and there are fears that the North Korean threat could portend a provocation, which could include nuclear or missile tests or even border skirmishes.
