North Korea to the UN: The Korean Peninsula is “on the brink of nuclear war”

North Korea warned the United Nations on Tuesday that the Korean Peninsula is facing the danger of a nuclear war, placing responsibility for this on what it described as the aggression of the United States.

North Korea's representative to the United Nations, Kim Song, told the General Assembly of the international body that the approach of the United States over the past year has pushed the Korean Peninsula "closer to the brink of nuclear war."

These statements came on the same day that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a new nuclear arms race.

Kim Song also condemned South Korea's actions under the leadership of conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol, who has worked to enhance cooperation with Washington and Tokyo.

He stated in his speech to the General Assembly, "Given its two-faced policy that depends on foreign powers... (South Korea) is on the brink of an imminent nuclear war."

He pointed to the recent formation of the "Nuclear Advisory Group," in which the United States hopes to achieve better integration of its nuclear capabilities with South Korea's traditional forces as the two allied countries intensify information-sharing and emergency planning.

Kim claimed that the group is "committed to planning and executing a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea."

He added that "the United States is now moving to the practical stage of achieving its wicked goal of igniting a nuclear war by repeatedly sending strategic nuclear submarines and strategic nuclear bombers carrying nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula and its surrounding areas for the first time in decades."

North Korea's series of missile tests has been met with condemnation from the United States, Japan, and South Korea.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly expressed its openness to dialogue with North Korea without preconditions, but Pyongyang has shown no interest in holding talks at the working level.

Former President Donald Trump, Biden's predecessor, held three historic personal meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and succeeded in reducing tensions, but none of the meetings resulted in a permanent agreement.


AFP