Ambassador Joonkook Hwang condemned in the strongest possible terms Pyongyang’s so-called military reconnaissance satellite launch on 21 November.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea amended its Constitution in September to enshrine its nuclear policy, which significantly lowered the threshold for it using nuclear weapons.
“We need to act resolutely before it is too late to fix this,” he said.
Pyongyang is a determined and premeditated serial offender of its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s astonishing record of violating agreements are not limited to international ones. It has often unilaterally violated bilateral regional agreements.
With its satellite launch, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is attempting to secure not only the advancement of intercontinental ballistic missile technology, but also reconnaissance capability.
“The Republic of Korea cannot sit idle with its hands tied,” he said. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s provocative behaviour is no longer a regional issue.
It is an issue of global concern directly affecting all parts of the world.
If left unchecked, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s proliferation of weapons and military technology, whether conventional or nuclear, will further aggravate insecurity around the globe.
For example, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is supplying ammunition to the Russian Federation in its war against Ukraine, he said.
The Russian Federation itself voted in favour of all the substantive sanctions resolutions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from 2006 to 2017, including the one establishing an arms embargo. Pyongyang has developed its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programme for more than three decades based on its own playbook.
The root cause lies with the nature of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea regime itself, not the so-called hostile policy of Seoul or the United States, which is non-existent.
Ambassador Joonkook Hwang emphasized the importance of the Council’s unity in condemning the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“Let us unite together against this repeated offender,” he said.