Speech of DPRK Representative to UN at Open Meeting of UNSC

 

Pyongyang, December 20 (KCNA) -- The representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the United Nations made a speech at an open meeting of the UNSC, which was held at the UN headquarters on Dec. 20 (Dec. 19 in U.S. local time) as regards the DPRK's launch drill of ICBM conducted on Dec. 18.

The speech is as follows:

The U.S. and other hostile forces have persistently committed acts of military threat against the DPRK throughout this year. They are becoming all the more undisguised and extremely dangerous until this moment in December close to the year-end. The ICBM launch conducted by the DPRK this time is a warning counter-measure in the face of the grave situation.

This notwithstanding, the U.S. and a few countries blindly following it forcibly convened this meeting again to be recorded as a shameful one in the history of UN, while illegally and unlawfully taking issue with the DPRK which exercised the undeniable just and legitimate right of a sovereign state to self- defence recognized by international law including the UN Charter and equally conferred on all UN member states.

I strongly denounce and categorically reject the unfair abnormal practice repeated again at the UN Security Council to deal unjustly with the legitimate exercise of the right to self-defence of the DPRK, at the brigandish demand of the U.S. and its followers.

Only ten days ago, right here in this place, the U.S. wielded the veto on the draft resolution on the settlement of the Middle East situation on the ground that it "failed to mention the right of Israel to self-defence", patronizing and shielding the Israel's crime of civilian mass killings as a "legitimate exercise of the right to the self-defence". Such being the case, it is a mockery of and disregard for the UN Charter and the height of tragicomedy in itself as the U.S. today picks on the DPRK's exercise of the right to self-defence taken as a warning dimension to cope with its military provocation.

Had it not been for the intolerable provocation of the U.S. and ROK which introduced the nuclear-powered submarine into the region of the Korean peninsula, talking about the "end of regime" of the DPRK, against the aspirations and desire of the international community to send out this complex and unhappy year in tranquility, the representatives of the UN member states would not have sat in this absurd and unwarranted room to argue for and against the just exercise of the right to self-defence of a UN member state, while wasting precious time more needed for discussion of such substantial issues directly related to the maintenance of international peace and security as the mass killing atrocities of Israel, just around 10 days ahead of the new year.

At this juncture close to the year-end of 2023, the international community needs to seriously reflect upon whether the situation of the Korean peninsula this year could have reached such an extreme phase as today, if the U.S. and ROK had stopped the acts of military provocation against the DPRK, waking themselves from the illusion of the "extended deterrence posture".

As witnessed by the world, this is bound to be recorded as the most dangerous year when the military security landscape of the Korean peninsula and the region plunged into an unprecedentedly serious crisis due to the frenzy of reckless military confrontation of the U.S. and its followers.

From the beginning to the end of the year, the U.S. conducted joint military exercises of clear aggressive nature one after another together with ROK such as "Ssangryong", "Combined Joint Fire Annihilation Drill" and "Ulji Freedom Shield". It also framed up the "Washington Declaration" which made it a policy to use nuclear weapons against the DPRK and set in motion the so-called "nuclear consultative group" whose mission is to plan, operate and implement the preemptive nuclear attack.

This year, the U.S. introduced 6 nuclear-powered submarines including the strategic nuclear submarine "Kentucky" into the area of the Korean peninsula under the disguise of the "enhanced regular visibility of strategic assets". It also pushed in nuclear aircraft carrier strike groups in succession such as "Nimitz" and "Ronald Reagan" and deployed "B-1B" and "B-52H" strategic bombers on more than 20 occasions.

The area of the Korean peninsula has literally been turned into a general depot of the strategic nuclear assets of the U.S. and the most unstable zone of nuclear war danger, due to the deployment of nuclear strategic assets and large-scale joint military exercises conducted incessantly by the U.S. all the year round.

This reality clearly shows that the vicious cycle of the aggravated situation in and around the Korean peninsula is attributable to none other than the U.S. and ROK which unilaterally heighten the level of military tensions, both in rhetoric and action.

Certain countries lend ears only to the one-sided argument of the U.S. and ROK that they were compelled to strengthen “extended deterrence posture” under the pretext of countering the so-called “nuclear threats” from the DPRK. This is a typical example of extreme double standards which turns back on the truth.

The international community needs to think at least once about the security concerns of the DPRK on the opposite side of the U.S. and ROK.

The U.S. and ROK brought in vast aggressive armed forces including nuclear submarines and strategic nuclear bombers which are more than enough to reduce the whole territory of a state to ashes and are conducting provocative nuclear war exercises before us and at any time. If this is not a violation of the DPRK’s security interests, then what is it?

Who would surrender to an enemy attacking with a sword? Whichever country would remain indifferent or defenseless towards the large-scale military exercises waged by an enemy state at its doorstep?

Such a man without a future as the lame duck U.S. president may remain indifferent to it, but never in the case of the DPRK which is a dignified sovereign state.

Anyone who thinks reasonably can easily judge that the DPRK’s counter- measures vis-a-vis the security threats from the U.S. and ROK are absolutely reasonable, normal and reflective response.

Overwhelmed by the high-handedness and arbitrariness of the U.S., the UN Security Council has now been reduced to a mechanism of injustice that openly allows such brigandish logic and double standards as to call into question “who did it” instead of “what was done”.

The prevailing reality shows that the biggest threat to the international peace and security is coming from the UN Security Council itself.

As long as the illegal and unlawful acts of double standards of the U.S. and its followers are allowed, the UN Security Council has no moral and legal qualifications to deal with the issues on the international peace and security.

If the U.S. and its following forces again seek to divest our state of its sovereignty clamoring about implementation of the unlawful and unwarranted "sanctions resolutions" of the UN Security Council against the DPRK, it will inevitably invoke the just exercise of the right to self-defence of a sovereign state enshrined in the UN Charter.

We take this opportunity to send our stern warning once again to the U.S. and ROK. If they continue with their reckless and irresponsible military threat in an attempt to infringe upon the sovereignty and security interests of the DPRK, its armed forces will never remain an onlooker to it and the provokers will be held entirely responsible for all the consequences arising therefrom.

The DPRK will, in the future, too, continue to build up its strategic power of a more advanced type to contain and control any threat from the U.S. and its followers with immediate, overwhelming and decisive counter-measures. It will also go hand in hand with the righteous international community to establish a new independent and peaceful international order based on the principles of respect for sovereignty, non-interference in internal affairs, justice and equality.