North Korea’s foreign ministry on Sunday urged the United Nations to demand an immediate end to joint United States-South Korean military exercises, saying they are escalating tensions that threaten to spiral out of control.
Source: Reutersa statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry released by the state news agency KCNA
Details: Allied exercises and rhetoric “irresponsibly increase the level of confrontation,” said Kim Sung-kyung, Vice Foreign Minister for International Organization Affairs of the DPRK.
“The UN and the international community should strongly urge the US and South Korea to immediately stop their provocative statements and joint military exercises,” Kim said.
According to him, it’s a shame that the UN is constantly silent about these exercises, which have a “clearly aggressive character.”
What preceded this: The United States and South Korea have scheduled more than 10 days of large-scale military exercises in March, including an amphibious landing.
Allies say the exercise is being conducted in self-defense and is necessary to counter growing threats from North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, which are prohibited by UN Security Council resolutions.
On Saturday, North Korea accused the United States of what it called “the collapse of the international arms control system” and said Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons were a fair response to ensure the balance of power in the region.
Last month, Kim issued a statement saying UN Secretary-General António Guterres was “grossly unfair, unbalanced” in regards to North Korea’s missile tests.
