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'Nuclear tests will stop if US stops S. Korea exercises,' says N. Korea

'Nuclear tests will stop if US stops S. Korea exercises,' says N. Korea

Posted April. 25, 2016 07:13,   

Updated April. 25, 2016 07:19

한국어
"If Korea stops the annual Korea-U.S. military exercise, North Korea is willing to stop the nuclear test," Ri Su Yong, North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri Su Yong said in a press interview on Saturday (local time) at the UN headquarters. He visited the UN to participate in the signing ceremony of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Paris. The AP reported that Ri had never taken an interview with the Western media.

The interview took place at the North Korean Mission to the UN, hours after North Korea's SLBM (Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile) launching test. "The launch was our countermeasure to the tension that the Korea-U.S. military exercise created," Ri said. "Why is it wrong for us to take a necessary measure when the joint military exercise raised tensions in the first place?"

A Korean authority corrected Ri's statement by noting, "The South Korea-U.S. military exercises are annual activity for national defense. Nuclear test, on the other hand, violates the UN Security Council resolutions and is a threat to the international community. North Korea's excuse is irrelevant." The South Korean and U.S. governments also emphasized several times that the two events are of different nature.

Ri argued, "Such a small country as North Korea cannot be a threat to the U.S. and the world. When powerful countries such as the U.S. say 'calm down,' it sounds to us that we should 'accept our demise' or 'give up our sovereignty'."

He made a comment on the normalization of the U.S.-Cuba relation by saying, "I am happy for them but the North Korea-U.S. relation is an entirely different matter." He added, "If North Korea and the U.S. continue to struggle with one another, the result will be devastating not only to the two countries but also to the world. Washington should abandon its anti-North Korea policies and stop its military exercises and war games."

According to the AP, the U.S. State Department limited Ri's access in the UN building to necessary areas for his official purpose of visiting. Ri was brought to the UN for an emergent countermeasure to North Korea's recent nuclear provocation.



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