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UN Secretary-General affirms support for North Korea’s denuclearization

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South Korea United Nations
South Korea United Nations

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has announced a firm UN commitment to North Korea’s complete denuclearization, as a divided Security Council gives the country more space to expand its nuclear weapons program.

Guterres, who met South Korean President Yoon Si-yeol in Seoul, said he affirmed the United Nations’ “unequivocal commitment to the full, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and North Korea (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea).”

“Bringing peace, security and stability to the entire region is a fundamental goal,” he told Mr Yoon, while also praising South Korea’s involvement in international peacekeeping and tackling climate change.

South Korea United Nations
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (left) meets with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul (Jeon Heon-Kyun/AP/PA)

Mr. Guterres, who arrived in South Korea on Thursday, then met with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, where discussions are expected to revolve around the North Korean nuclear threat.

North Korea has tested more than 30 ballistic missiles this year, including its first ICBM test since 2017 under U.S.-led pressure and sanctions.

The U.S. and South Korean governments also said North Korea was preparing for its first nuclear test since September 2017, when it claimed to have detonated a nuclear warhead designed for its ballistic missiles.

While the Biden administration has said it will push for further sanctions if North Korea conducts another nuclear test, the prospect of meaningful punishment is unclear.

China and Russia recently vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution at the U.N. Security Council that would have added sanctions on North Korea to some ballistic missile tests this year, underscoring a deepening division among the Security Council’s permanent members over Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Mr. Guterres’ meeting with South Korean officials came a day after North Korea claimed a widely-disputed victory over Covid-19, but also blamed rival South Korea for the outbreak and vowed “lethal” retaliation.

North Korea insists its initial infection was caused by leaflets and other objects flying across the border on balloons launched by anti-Pyongyang activists in South Korea, a claim Seoul has called unscientific and “ridiculous.”

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