SEOUL (AP):
The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned the United States on Tuesday that it would face “a more fatal security crisis” as Washington pushes for UN condemnation of the North’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile test.
Kim Yo Jong’s warning came hours after US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that the US will circulate a proposed presidential statement condemning North Korea’s banned missile launches and other destabilising activities. After the meeting, Thomas-Greenfield also read a statement by 14 countries that supported action to limit North Korea’s advancement of its weapons programmes.
Kim Yo Jong, who is widely considered North Korea’s second most powerful person after her brother, lambasted the United States for issuing what she called “a disgusting joint statement together with such rabbles as Britain, France, Australia, Japan and South Korea.”
Kim compared the United States to “a barking dog seized with fear”. She said North Korea would consider the US-led statement “a wanton violation of our sovereignty and a grave political provocation.”
“The US should be mindful that no matter how desperately it may seek to disarm (North Korea), it can never deprive (North Korea) of its right to self-defence and that the more hell-bent it gets on the anti-(North Korea) acts, it will face a more fatal security crisis,” she said in a statement carried by state media.
Monday’s UN Security Council meeting was convened in response to North Korea’s ICBM launch on Friday, which was part of a provocative run of missile tests this year that experts say is designed to modernise its nuclear arsenal and increase its leverage in future diplomacy. Friday’s test involved its most powerful Hwasong-17 missile, and some experts say the successful steep-angle launch proved its potential to strike anywhere in the US mainland if it’s fired at a standard trajectory.
During the Security Council meeting, the United States and its allies strongly criticised the ICBM launch and called for action to limit North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes. But Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the Security Council, opposed any new pressure and sanctions on North Korea. In May, the two countries vetoed a US-led attempt to toughen sanctions on North Korea over its earlier ballistic missile tests, which are prohibited by UN Security Council resolutions.