North Korea’s foreign minister called UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “a puppet of the United States” as she slammed the UN chief for joining US-led condemnation of the North’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test.
Guterres earlier issued a statement strongly condemning North Korea’s ICBM launch on Friday and reiterating his call on the country “to immediately desist from taking any further provocative actions.”
Guterres’ statement came after the US and other countries issued similar criticism of the North’s ICBM test that showed an potential to strike anywhere in the continental US.
Photo: AP
“I often take the UN secretary-general for a member of the US. White House or its State Department,” North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son-hui said in a statement carried by state media.
“I express my strong regret over the fact that the UN secretary-general has taken a very deplorable attitude, oblivious of the purpose and principles of the UN Charter and its proper mission which is to maintain impartiality, objectivity and equity in all matters,” Choe said.
Choe accused Guterres of overlooking the US and its allies taking the North’s ICBM test to the UN Security Council, saying: “This clearly proves that he is a puppet of the US.”
The Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for yesterday morning on North Korea’s ICBM launch at Japan’s request.
However, it was unclear if it could impose new economic sanctions on North Korea, because China and Russia, two of the council’s veto-wielding members, have opposed the previous US and its allies’ moves to toughen sanctions on the North over its banned tests of ballistic missiles earlier this year.
On Sunday, top diplomats from the world’s major industrialized democracies issued a joint statement calling for strong steps by the Security Council in reaction to the North Korean missile launch.
“[North Korea’s] actions demand a united and robust response by the international community, including the need for further significant measures to be taken by the UN Security Council,” said the statement by foreign ministers from the G7 nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US.
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