The body has become “a political tool” of the US, Kim Jong-un’s sister claims
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield participates in a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting. © AFP / Spencer Platt
The UN Security Council infringed upon North Korea’s sovereignty by holding a meeting to discuss Pyongyang’s recent failed satellite launch, Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has claimed. She accused Washington of making “gangster-like” requests to the council.
In a statement on Sunday cited by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Yo-jong said the UNSC was guilty of “working as a political appendage of an individual country.”
The gathering by the UNSC on Friday represented an “undisguised disregard for and violation of the DPRK’s [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] sovereignty,” she added, describing it as an “insult” to the UN Charter.
A senior figure in North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, Kim Yo-jong argued that thousands of satellites have been launched by various countries and commercial firms, but “the UNSC is continuously taking discriminative and rude action to take issue with only the launch of a satellite by the DPRK.”
“The launch of a military reconnaissance satellite by the DPRK is a legal countermeasure to cope with the US and its vassal forces’ military threats,” she claimed.
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Pyongyang will continue to take steps to boost its defense capabilities despite “illegal” sanctions and outside pressure, Kim Yo-jong vowed.
“Peace and security in the Korean Peninsula is guaranteed by the powerful self-defense capability of the DPRK, not by the resolution invented by the ‘political tool’ of the US,” she insisted.
A UNSC resolution bans Pyongyang from using ballistic missile technology for any purposes, including satellite launches.
During the council’s meeting last week, the US urged other members to join it in condemning North Korea’s “unlawful behavior.” Washington also called on the UNSC to ensure Pyongyang would not make further attempts to launch a satellite into orbit.
However, Russia and China have refused to reprimand Pyongyang, arguing that there are legitimate security concerns behind its actions.
Last Wednesday, North Korea confirmed that a rocket carrying its Malligyong-1 military satellite had crashed into the Yellow Sea due to a malfunction of the second-stage engine.
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Following the setback, Kim Yo-jong said she was “certain that the DPRK’s military reconnaissance satellite will be correctly put in space orbit in the near future and start its mission.”
