UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, through his spokesman on Friday, “strongly condemned” North Korea’s ballistic missile and artillery fire ahead of a Security Council meeting on the high tensions in the Korean peninsula.
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Mr Guterres “reiterates his demands that North Korea immediately cease all provocation and comply fully with its obligations under Security Council resolutions,” his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric thundered.
The UN chief “is deeply concerned by the tensions on the Korean Peninsula and the increasing confrontational rhetoric,” the UN diplomat said.
He “urged North Korea to take immediate steps to resume negotiations (…) for a lasting peace and full and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” he continued.
For his part, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby castigated “the provocations of the Pyongyang regime (…) at a seemingly everyday pace that only leads to ‘more insecurity and instability’ in the peninsula”.
These convictions come hours before a meeting without a vote by the UN Security Council devoted to the requests of the United States and North Korea. According to UN diplomats, there will be a joint statement to the press.
North Korea on Wednesday and Thursday fired around 30 missiles for the first time since the Korean War ended in 1953, including one that ended its course near South Korea’s territorial waters. The reclusive country has also launched an ICBM. Thursday morning, which apparently failed.
“Any nuclear test or any other dangerous action will face a rapid, robust and unified international response,” warned the G7 states on Friday, whose diplomatic chiefs are meeting in Germany and who condemned the rise in this region.
The South Korean army said it deployed stealth aircraft on Friday after spotting 180 North Korean warplanes, a new episode in the spectacular rise in tensions in recent days on the Korean peninsula, where Seoul and Washington are conducting military exercises.