The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, has denounced an "unfair" UN meeting convened after Pyongyang's failed spy satellite launch, the agency reported on Sunday. KCNA State.
On May 31, North Korea attempted to send a spy satellite into space, but the rocket carrying it, Chollima-1, crashed into the Yellow Sea. The launch triggered missile warnings in Seoul and Japan and drew strong international criticism.
"I am very upset that the UN Security Council so often calls the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea's official name) to account for exercising its rights as a sovereign nation," lambasted Kim Yo Jong, criticizing a meeting "at the request of the United States".
"(I) strongly condemn it and reject it, as an unjust and biased act," she added, saying the council was acting as a "political annex" of Washington and interfering in her country's internal affairs. .
South Korea and Japan had warned that the test would violate United Nations resolutions against Pyongyang, which notably banned the use of ballistic missiles. However, these weapons are based on the same technology as space launchers.
On Friday, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo deplored the Security Council's "lack of unity and action" on the North Korean issue.
Kim Yo Jong has said she wants to reproduce these satellite launches, which Pyongyang considers a strategic priority in the face of the American military presence in the region.
North Korea "will continue to take proactive measures to exercise all of its legal rights as a sovereign nation, including the right to launch military reconnaissance satellites," she said.
Analysts point out, however, that there is a significant technological gap between the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), projectiles that Pyongyang has already fired several times, and a space launch.
They also warned against the North Korean regime actually deploying satellites, as this would allow it to more easily target US and South Korean forces.
04/06/2023 11:54:21 - Seoul (AFP) © 2023 AFP
