DPRK regrets UN chief’s support for its denuclearization

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres talks with ROK Foreign Minister Park Jin during their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Aug 12, 2022. (JEON HEON-KYUN / POOL / AFP)

SEOUL – The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s foreign ministry on Sunday criticized the United Nations Secretary-General's recent comment on his supports for the DPRK's complete denuclearization, calling the remarks lack impartiality and fairness.

DPRK's state news agency KCNA released a statement from the foreign ministry after UN chief Antonio Guterres on Friday said he fully supports efforts to completely denuclearize DPRK when he met with Republic of Korea President Yoon Suk-yeol. 

"I cannot but express deep regret over the said remarks of the UN secretary-general that grossly lack impartiality and fairness and go against the obligations of his duty, specified in the UN Charter, as regards the issue of the Korean peninsula," Kim Son-gyong, vice minister for international organizations of DPRK's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Kim Son-gyong, vice minister for international organizations of DPRK's foreign ministry said the DPRK's "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" was "an infringement upon the sovereignty of the DPRK"

Kim added that the UN secretary-general should not request or accept orders from the government of a specific country but refrain from doing any act that may impair his or her position as an international official who is liable only to the UN.

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Kim said the DPRK's "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" was "an infringement upon the sovereignty of the DPRK".

"It demands the unilateral disarmament, and Secretary-General Guterres perhaps knows well that the DPRK has totally rejected it without any toleration," said Kim, adding that Guterres should be careful when uttering "dangerous words" amid the extremely acute situation on the Korean peninsula.

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