UNITED NATIONS (AP) – North Korea’s repeated flouting of U.N. Security Council resolutions by conducting nuclear and missile tests calls into question its suitability for membership of the world body, South Korea’s top diplomat has told The Associated Press.
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se stopped short of calling for Pyongyang’s expulsion from the U.N. but said its authoritarian government was violating the terms under which both the Koreas had been admitted 25 years ago. He said the North had “broken records” in its violation of global norms: It is the only nation to have conducted nuclear tests in the 21st century and is already subject to five Security Council resolutions over its weapons testing.
“I think all members of the U.N. have to ask themselves whether North Korea is really qualified as a member of the U.N.,” Yun said in an interview late Tuesday said on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at its headquarters in New York.
Calling North Korea a “serial offender,” he said the Security Council, the U.N.’s top decision-making body, needs to close loopholes in existing sanctions and impose tough new measures in response to the North’s fifth and most recent atomic test. He said that the “Hiroshima-sized explosion” Sept. 9 made clear that Pyongyang poses an “existential threat” to its U.S.-allied southern neighbor and a growing menace to the world.
“This latest test is a very sobering reminder (that) the danger and the threat from North Korea is now reaching a very, very dangerous stage. For many years we have been talking about the development of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles, and now we may be reaching a stage where we have to worry about the deployment of nuclear-tipped missiles,” Yun said.