DPRK FM: Guterres is "a puppet of the US"

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
21 Nov 2022 16:29

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Minister of Foreign Affairs, Choe Son-Hui, slams UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on following the US.

DPRK Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son-Hui

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea 's (DPRK) Minister of Foreign Affairs, Choe Son-Hui called UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "a puppet of the United States", criticizing the UN chief for joining the US-led condemnation of Pyongyang's intercontinental ballistic missile test.

Earlier, Guterres issued a statement strongly condemning Pyongyang's Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch on Friday, reiterating his call on the DPRK “to immediately desist from taking any further provocative actions.” Similar criticism was waged by the United States and its allies.

The FM said in a statement “I often take the UN secretary-general for a member of the US White House or its State Department,” adding “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 that Guterres' failing to notice that it was the US and its allies that brought the DPRK's ICBM test to the UN Security Council simply "proves that he is a puppet of the US."

Missile tests legitimate against provocative rehearsals

On Japan's request, the UN Security Council arranged a Monday morning emergency meeting concerning the DPRK's ICBM launch. But it's uncertain whether it can impose new economic sanctions on the DPRK given that China and Russia, two of the council members who have veto power, have opposed previous efforts by the US and its allies to impose tougher sanctions.

Moreover, the DPRK FM in her statement defended the missile tests as “legitimate and just exercise of the right to self-defense” against “provocative nuclear war rehearsals” by the US and its allies, hailing them as “most amazing and deplorable to me.”

In a joint statement released on Sunday, senior diplomats from the collective West urged the UN Security Council to take swift action in response to the DPRK missile test.