North Korea on Wednesday accused United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres of having an “extremely unfair” attitude following his condemnation of the country’s most recent missile test.
Guterres rebuked North Korea for its Saturday intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test, calling on the nation to cease any additional provocations and resume denuclearization talks for the Korean Peninsula.
Kim Son Gyong, North Korea’s vice foreign minister for international bodies, said in response that Guterres “is going on the rampage of illogical and miserable remarks, which are little different from those of U.S. State Department officials over the years.”
Kim said the missile test was conducted in response to the United States deploying long-range bombers for a joint training with South Korea earlier this year and as a warning to the gathering of the U.N. Security Council earlier this year.
North Korea treats military drills that the U.S. and South Korea regularly jointly conduct as a threat of invasion.
“The U.N. secretary-general should clearly understand that his unreasonable and prejudiced stand on the Korean Peninsula issue is acting as a factor inciting the hostile acts of the U.S. and its followers against [North Korea],” Kim said.
In November, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui called Guterres a “puppet” of the U.S. after he condemned an earlier missile test.
North Korea said its 600 mm multiple rocket launcher sent off two rounds off its east coast, a day after the U.S. sent B1-B bombers that carry massive payloads of guided and unguided weapons for its drills with South Korean and Japanese warplanes.
South Korea and the U.S. plan to hold joint military exercises in the upcoming weeks. The drills will include a tabletop exercise that will happen at the Pentagon on Wednesday.
South Korean military intelligence said in a meeting at the country’s parliament on Wednesday that North Korea might further provoke tensions with a nuclear test, a launch of a spy satellite or an ICBM test on a standard trajectory.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.