Kim Sung DPRK envoy to the U.N., Our test-fire of  ICBM “Hwasongpho-18” is an warranted exercise of the right to self-defense 

 

“If its ignorance of the military arbitrariness of the U.S.\and its allied forces will lead to military attacks\and aggression against the DPRK resulting in a most horrible disaster like a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula, can the Security Council bear the responsibility for it?" 

Kim Sung, DPRK envoy to the United Nations, addressed the Security Council July 13 (Photo by Manuel Elías/UN) 

President

Exercise of the right to self-defense is a legitimate right of a sovereign state which nobody can deny as it is recognized under the UN Charter\and international law. 

Our test-fire of a new type ICBM had no negative effect on the security of the neighboring countries. Japan announced that our ICBM landed outside its Exclusive Economic Zone,\and it is tantamount to Japan’s acknowledgement that no risk was posed to its security. 

Moreover, our test-fire of a new type ICBM “Hwasongpho-18” is an warranted exercise of the right to self-defense to deter dangerous military moves of the hostile forces\and to safeguard the security of our state\and peace in the region without fail.

Open briefing by the UN Security Council of the exercise of the right to self-defense, a legitimate right of a sovereign state is a contradictory act that denies the fundamental principles of sovereign equality\and non-interference in internal affairs enshrined in the UN Charter\and norms of international relations.

We categorically reject\and condemn the convening of the Security Council briefing by the United States\and its followers which encroaches upon the DPRK’s legitimate right to self-defense since it constitutes an illegal\and reckless act of violating the spirit of the UN Charter\and international law.

At present, military provocations of the U.S.\and its followers against the DPRK are growing as never before\and accordingly, the military security pattern in the Korean peninsula is reaching the phase of a nuclear crisis beyond the Cold War era.

In April, the United States cooked up the “Washington Declaration”, a platform for a nuclear showdown with the DPRK. As a follow-up, the U.S. is openly planning to deliberate on the use of nuclear weapons against our state through a meeting of the US-south Korea “Nuclear Consultative Group” which will be the parental body of the US-Japan-south Korea “Tripartite Nuclear Alliance”. 

In addition, it is unprecedentedly driving the regional situation to the brink of a nuclear war by frequently deploying nuclear-powered submarines\and nuclear strategic bombers in\and around the Korean peninsula\and conducting large-scale joint military exercises.

There is no place in the world like the Korean peninsula\where extremely provocative\and aggressive nuclear war exercises are going on frequently\and annually with an ultimate goal of the “end of government” of a single sovereign state.

What is more serious is that the U.S. is attempting to redeploy nuclear weapons to the Korean peninsula by dispatching a nuclear submarine loaded with strategic nukes to south Korea for the first time in 40 years while resorting to extremely provocative aerial espionage acts by infiltrating into the sovereign territory of the DPRK.

U.S. nuclear strategic bombers dispatched to the Korean peninsula on a number of times within one month, a cruise missile-loaded nuclear submarine deployed in south Korea\and Japan, U.S. strategic nuclear submarine carrying hundreds of nuclear warheads\and 20-odd ICBMs deployed to south Korea pose a serious threat not only to the DPRK\and neighboring countries but also countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Such reckless military moves of the U.S. constitute an outright provocative act of aggressive nature which pushes the situation on the Korean peninsula to the actual situation of an armed conflict, far beyond the constant military preparedness posture aimed at a belligerent party. As such, they have irreversibly negative impact on the regional military\and political situation\and security architecture.

Here is a question to those people who allege that DPRK’s exercises of the right to self-defense including missile fire drills pose a threat to international peace\and security\and strains the situation. How can the deployment of nuclear assets, joint military exercises\and aerial espionage acts committed by the U.S. contribute to peace\and stability on the Korean peninsula?

The US-south Korea military exercises involving nuclear assets under the very dangerous\and unrealistic aim of the “end of government” of a sovereign state constitute very risky acts ushering in the disaster of a nuclear war to the Korean peninsula\and the region. Those acts are really threats to international peace\and security which must be dealt with in the Security Council.

The Security Council should explain why dozens of U.S. nuclear war drills involving all sorts of nuclear strategic assets are not considered as a threat to international peace\and security if our single test-fire of ICBM is regarded as a “threat to international peace\and security”.

At least, the Security Council should explain why it ignores the fact that the U.S.’s extremely dangerous military provocations pose a big threat to the security of the DPRK.

At present, the Security Council is taking a very dangerous path under the influence of high-handedness\and arbitrariness of the U.S.\and its few followers.

It is an outright act of ignoring the DPRK’s sovereignty to take issue with our justified\and legitimate exercise of the right to self-defense alone without any discussion on validity of overstepping military moves of the U.S.\and south Korea but merely accepting them as a fait accompli.

If the exercise of the right to self-defense of a UN member state aimed at safeguarding its sovereignty\and security interests in defiance of military threats of the U.S.-led military alliance forces continue to be disputed\and if the provocative\and risky muscle flexing of the U.S.\and its vassal forces continues to be granted impunity, the international community will take for granted the U.S.’s attempted military attacks\and aggressive acts against the DPRK, which is tantamount to instigating the outbreak of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula.

If its ignorance of the military arbitrariness of the U.S.\and its allied forces will lead to military attacks\and aggression against the DPRK resulting in a most horrible disaster like a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula, can the Security Council bear the responsibility for it?

If not, the Security Council faces two options; one is to refrainrom obstruction of the DPRK’s exercise of the right to self-defense\and the other is to denounce\and deter the U.S.’s anti-peace behavior.

One-sided dispute of the DPRK’s exercise of the right to self-defense in the face of the hostile policy\and military threats of the U.S. under the single pretext of violation of the UN “resolutions” forcibly cooked up by the U.S.\and its followers is really a most irresponsible\and ill-minded act of totally abandoning the moral obligation\and consciousness towards international peace\and security.

If military alliance activities of the U.S.\and south Korea remain intact\and only DPRK’s effort to bolster self-defensive deterrence is accused as the “provocation”, it will result in fostering military asymmetry on the Korean peninsula\and destroying the balance of power.

Whether\or not an undesired, extreme situation will take shape on the Korean peninsula heavily depends on the upcoming U.S. moves. If any abrupt situation will take place in future, the U.S. shall bear full responsibility for it.

In conclusion, the DPRK will actively join the efforts of the international community to ensure world peace\and security\and establish a fair\and just international\order\and will fulfill its responsibility\and role in the struggle for safeguarding peace\and stability of the Korean peninsula in future, too.