State media stated on Sunday that Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, criticized the UN Security Council for holding a “most unfair” meeting in response to Pyongyang’s most recent spy satellite launch.
In an unusual same-day release, Pyongyang claimed that the new Chollima-1 rocket from North Korea lost thrust and crashed into the water with its satellite payload on Wednesday. Pyongyang also stated that another test will be done as soon as feasible.
The launch was condemned by the US, South Korea, and Japan as a violation of UN resolutions prohibiting the nuclear-armed nation from conducting any tests involving ballistic missile technology.
Rosemary DiCarlo, the under-secretary-general of the UN for political and peacebuilding affairs, criticized the Security Council on Friday for its “lack of unity and action” in response to North Korea’s nuclear tests.
The UN gathering, according to Kim Yo Jong, was yet another illustration of how the body served as a “political appendage” to “gangster-like” Washington.
“I am very unpleased that the UNSC so often calls to account the DPRK’s exercise of its rights as a sovereign state at the request of the US,” she said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency and referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“(I) bitterly condemn and reject it as the most unfair and biased act of interfering in its internal affairs and violating its sovereignty,” she added.
She vowed to continue launching spy satellites, which the North has previously pitched as necessary to counterbalance the growing US military presence in the region.
“The DPRK will continue to take proactive measures to exercise all the lawful rights of a sovereign state, including the one to military reconnaissance satellite launch,” she said.
According to analysts, the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and space launch capabilities share a large amount of technology.
They have also cautioned that Pyongyang would be able to more precisely target US and South Korean soldiers if North Korea is successful in deploying its satellites.
In spite of years of harsh sanctions, North Korea has continued to work on its illegal nuclear and missile programs, undertaking a number of weapons tests, including the test-firing of several ICBMS.
Leader Kim declared his nation to have “irreversible” nuclear capability last year, virtually putting an end to the possibility of denuclearization negotiations.
