North Korea on Monday denounced a scheduled U.N. Security Council discussion of its latest test of an underwater-launched ballistic missile, calling it “dangerous” and saying it will increase “our desire to defend our sovereignty.”
The council scheduled closed consultations Tuesday on recent North Korean tests at the request of the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
North Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Kim Song told several reporters Monday the United States is “behind the impure moves” of the three countries, saying the meeting would not take place without the consent of the Trump administration.
Weekend discussions between senior U.S. and North Korean officials in Stockholm broke down amid acrimony. The talks were the first since the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un collapsed in Vietnam in February due to squabbling over how much sanctions relief should be given to the North in return for dismantling its main nuclear complex.
Pyongyang’s chief nuclear negotiator Kim Myong Gil told reporters at Beijing’s airport on his way home Monday that “whether or not there are further talks will depend on the U.S.” He described talks with his U.S. counterpart, Stephen Biegun, on Saturday as “very bad and sickening,” and stressed that the U.S .had “not presented any new initiative.”
Ambassador Kim, the U.N. envoy, stressed the timing of the Security Council meeting, saying the three European countries should seriously consider this issue, which he called “very important.”
He said no matter what the United Kingdom, France and Germany pursue, “we will never tolerate this dangerous attempt” and will never sit idly by against those taking issue with what he repeatedly called “our defensive measures.”
He called the Oct. 3 test of a new-type SLBM Pukguksong-3 in the waters off Wonsan Bay one of the country’s “self-defensive measures,” saying that “it has no effect on security of neighbouring countries.”
“The United States and its followers should bear in mind that if they raise the issue of our self-defensive measures at the U.N. Security Council, it will further boost our desire to defend our sovereignty,” Kim said. “So we really sharply watch every move of the United States and the United Nations Security Council.”
Calling the planned council meeting “dangerous to our sovereignty,” he said, “Please carefully watch what we do in the future.”
Kim said North Korea doesn’t recognize any Security Council meetings that address “our self-defensive measures” so he won’t be there on Tuesday.