Addressing the UN Security Council in a resolute speech, North Korea asserted that its endeavors to launch a reconnaissance satellite into space are transparent and well within its "legitimate right as a sovereign state," CNN reports.
Kim Song, the North Korean ambassador to the UN, defended his nation during a rare speech to the UN on August 15, refuting allegations that the country aimed to acquire intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology through its satellite launch.
He emphasized that North Korea had consistently refused to acknowledge UN Security Council resolutions that impinge upon the rights of a sovereign state. Kim Song's remarks came after Pyongyang's second attempt to launch a reconnaissance satellite into orbit on August 24, which ended in failure due to a malfunction in the rocket's third stage.
The initial endeavor in May saw the Chollima-1 satellite vehicle rocket crash into the sea shortly after liftoff, splintering into multiple fragments that fell into the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the Pacific Ocean. This incident led neighboring Japan to issue an emergency evacuation alert for residents in the southern Okinawa region.
The US National Security Council condemned the launch as a "blatant violation" of several UN Security Council resolutions, asserting that it involved technologies closely linked to North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile program.
South Korea's military assessed that the recent satellite's design was too rudimentary to effectively function as a reconnaissance device, even if the launch had succeeded.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a state-run outlet, reported that North Korea plans to undertake another launch in October. Ahead of Kim Song's address to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Ambassador to the UN, called on members to "return to a time when our collective voice curbed nuclear proliferation."
She emphasized the need to unequivocally denounce North Korea's unlawful conduct and urged the nation to fully comply with all pertinent Security Council resolutions. Thomas-Greenfield also highlighted the necessity to address North Korea's global revenue-generating activities, which finance its illicit weapons program.
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