‘Encroachment on sovereignty’ — North Korea condemns UNSC’s meeting on missile tests

Tensions have risen between Pyongyang and Washington in recent weeks, with North Korea calling the US government’s engagement policy a 'petty trick'.

People watch a TV at the Seoul Railway Station showing a file image of a North Korean missile launch on 15 September 2021 | Photo: Chung Sung-Jun | Getty Images AsiaPac via Bloomberg

Seoul: North Korea denounced a closed-door UN Security Council meeting that found recent missile tests by the secretive nation were a violation of the UN resolution, saying it’s an encroachment on the country’s sovereignty.

The missile tests were “conducted thoroughly in the territorial land, air and seas” of North Korea an in open seas and “never posed threats or harm” to the security of neighboring nations, Jo Chol Su, director of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of International Organization, said in a statement via the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Sunday.

North Korea has never recognized “the partial and illegal UN ‘resolution’ that seriously encroaches upon the right to existence and development of sovereign states,” Jo said.

Pyongyang conducted its latest tests on Friday, claiming it had successfully launched a newly developed anti-aircraft missile. In September, North Korea tested three weapons systems including hypersonic missiles designed to evade U.S. defenses and long-range cruise missiles, and it launched ballistic missiles from a train for the first time.

Tensions have risen between Pyongyang and Washington in recent weeks, with North Korea stepping up provocations. Last week North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a fresh warning to the Biden administration that he’d boost the nation’s nuclear capabilities, calling the U.S. government’s engagement policy a “petty trick.” –Bloomberg