North Korea responded to international criticism of its most recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test by calling UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres a “puppet of the United States.”
Guterres issued an official statement last Friday condemning North Korea’s missile launch earlier that day and called for the rogue communist dictatorship to “immediately deist from taking any further provocative actions.”
The UN statement came on the heels of similar denouncements of North Korea’s test made by the U.S. and a number of allied nations.
North Korea’s most recent ICBM launches have shown the potential to strike targets inside the continental U.S.
NEW: North Korea airs video footage of Hwasong-17 ICBM launch on November 18. (Videos of North Korean missile launches have been very rare since 2017.) pic.twitter.com/KeuQTuoYip
— Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) November 19, 2022
North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui issued a statement through state-owned media saying she “often takes the UN secretary-general for a member of the U.S. White House or its State Department.”
Choe added: “I express my strong regret over the fact that the U.N. secretary-general has taken a very deplorable attitude, oblivious of the purpose and principles of the U.N. Charter and its proper mission which is to maintain impartiality, objectivity and equity in all matters.”
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Monday in response to a request for action by Japan in response to the latest North Korean threat. The question of whether additional sanctions will be imposed is in doubt, however, as both China and Russia have veto powers as permanent members of the council.
Both of those nations have resisted requests in recent months to toughen up the U.N. response to North Korea’s nuclear weapons systems development and testing.
North Korean state media said dictator Kim Jong Un watched the Friday test launch and described the missile system as a “reliable and maximum-capacity” weapon against U.S. threats. The Hwasong-17 missile is reportedly capable of carrying several nuclear warheads.
Choe’s statement attempted to defend the missile tests, describing them as a “legitimate exercise of the right to self-defense” against the U.S.
One day before last week’s test, Choe issued a separate statement that threatened ‘fiercer military responses” against the U.S., South Korea, and Japan.
