Permanent representative to the United Nations Kim Song of North Korea addresses the 77th session of the U.N. General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters, Sept. 26. AP
North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song on Wednesday lashed out at the United States, arguing it is aggravating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Addressing a session of the first committee of the U.N. General Assembly held in New York on Tuesday (local time), Kim, who serves as the Permanent Representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the U.N., urged the U.S. to refrain from providing a nuclear umbrella and to suspend joint exercises with South Korea. He claimed that the "stakes are running high" on the Korean Peninsula more than ever before due to the "dangerously growing hostility" and nuclear threat of Washington.
"The U.S. is now desperate to spread the disinformation in the international arena aimed at demonizing the government of our republic with an absurdist sophistry that our self defensive capability poses a threat to global peace and security in the region," he said.
He also called on the U.S. to take the lead in nuclear disarmament and to refrain from providing a nuclear umbrella or transferring nuclear technology.
The envoy also took issue with the recent joint exercises between Washington and Seoul, including the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise in August and maritime exercises involving the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan last month.
He then defended the North's arms buildup as a basic right stipulated in the U.N. charter and a self-defensive means to counter the "heinous" hostility of the U.S.
"Under such inevitable circumstances, we are compelled to decide to organize military drills under the simulations of an actual war at different levels in order to check and improve the reliability and combat power of our state war deterrence and send a strong military reaction warning to the enemies," he said.
The comments came as the North has been sharply ratcheting up tensions on the peninsula in recent weeks, staging seven rounds of provocative ballistic missile launches over the past two weeks.
The North also said it staged large-scale air-attack drills on Saturday, involving the simultaneous mobilization of around 150 warplanes "for the first time in history." (Yonhap)
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