North Korea Foreign Ministry on UN Secretary-General's Missile Condemnation: "Have You Become the White House Spokesperson?"

"Who Exactly Provoked Whom to Be Blamed for Provocation?"
Guterres, UN Secretary-General, Condemns North Korea's Missile Launch

Ant?nio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] North Korea defended its series of missile provocations as a "justifiable response" and unleashed criticism against UN Secretary-General Ant?nio Guterres. In a statement released on the 4th (local time), Secretary-General Guterres strongly condemned "North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch and various missile launches over the past two days," and urged North Korea to "immediately cease any further provocative acts."

According to the Korean Central News Agency on the 8th, Kim Sun-kyung, Deputy Minister in charge of International Organizations at North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressed strong regret over the Secretary-General's statement, which he described as "recklessly criticizing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's justifiable self-defensive measures in response to the United States' military provocations," and completely rejected it.

Deputy Minister Kim pointed out that North Korea's military exercises were a proper response to the South Korea-US joint air exercise "Vigilant Storm," stating, "Nevertheless, the UN Secretary-General seems to have become a spokesperson for the White House or the State Department, blindly echoing their words, which is deplorable."

He continued, "Who exactly provoked whom, and who are you trying to label as the provocateur?" He emphasized, "If openly deploying aircraft carriers and strategic bombers in frenzied war exercises is considered 'defensive,' while the legitimate exercise of self-defense in response is stigmatized as 'provocation,' then the UN, whose primary mission is to ensure world peace and security, will lose its raison d'?tre."

Furthermore, he added, "As the head of a global organization like the UN, one must be faithful to the UN's mission and universal values, which are based on fairness and objectivity, and must not be biased toward the interests and views of major powers or small groups in all judgments and dealings."

Deputy Minister Kim argued, "The worsening situation on the Korean Peninsula is partly attributable to the UN Secretary-General's unfair and prejudiced actions," and insisted, "If you truly wish to contribute to maintaining world peace and stability, instead of blindly dancing to others' tunes, it would be better to have a clear perspective and focus on exposing the root causes of provocation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.