Criticized By The Secretary General Of The United Nations After Launching An Intercontinental Missile, North Korea Calls The UN Not Neutral

JAKARTA - United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is known to have given strong criticism of North Korea's recent intercontinental ballistic missile launch. For this criticism, North Korea, Saturday, November 2, called the criticism baseless.

Kim Yo Jong, senior official and sister sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, gave a statement broadcast by North Korea's official news agency KCNA.

"I declare my strong dissatisfaction and firmly reject the unfair and prejudiced attitude of the UN secretary general who is concerned with the implementation of the rights of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) which is fair to defend itself," he said, quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, November 2.

Guterres, earlier on Thursday, October 31, strongly condemned North Korea's long-range ballistic missile launch, saying Pyongyang's repeated missile activity was a "clear violation" of the Security Council's resolution.

"He (Guterres) has consistently called for de-escalation, the full implementation of the relevant Security Council resolution, a conducive environment for dialogue, and the resumption of negotiations," a UN spokesman said.

In response to the criticism, Kim said the UN Secretary-General "must not lose neutrality in fulfilling its important duties."

"The DPRK will never tolerate any attempt to threaten the country's security environment," he added.

The North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs also criticized the United States and other countries for holding a meeting of the UN Security Council next week to discuss the launch of the Pyongyang ballistic missile.

"We will further increase practical efforts to contain military threats from enemy forces and maintain a balance of strength in the region," he said.

The North Korean regime, Friday, November 1, stated that it had fired the "final version" of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Hwasongpho-19.

In response, Seoul imposed sanctions on four North Korean entities and 11 people, including a Chinese-based diplomat, Choe Chol-min, for its role in procuring ballistic missile components and other dual-functional items.

On the same day, South Korea and the US also held joint drone attack training for the first time.