Seoul, Nov 13 (EFE).- North Korea on Monday slammed the United Nations Command over a meeting to be held in Seoul by the defense ministers of its member states, including United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and called for the dissolution of the multinational military force.
South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik (R) and his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, inspect an honor guard at the defense ministry in Seoul, South Korea, 13 November 2023. EFE/EPA/YONHAP/POOL SOUTH KOREA OUT
The UN Command, led by the US and made up of 17 countries, was formed in 1950 to support South Korea during the Korean War. North and South Korea technically remain at war.
“The dissolution of ‘UN Command’ is an essential requirement for preventing the outbreak of a new war and defending peace and security in the Korean peninsula,” said a statement from the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs published by the official KCNA news agency.
“This confab, to be held under the manipulation of the US secretary of defense, will reportedly adopt a ‘joint declaration’ showing the will of ‘UN Command’ member states to cope with contingency in the Korean peninsula,” it said.
It added that “the ‘UN Command,’ which should have been dissolved decades ago, is now revealing its aggressive nature again, seeking to cook up a declaration of confrontation simulating the second Korean war. This shows that the security terrain of the Korean peninsula is being more definitely turned into a war-oriented structure by the US and its followers.”
The foreign ministry then went on to say that the UN resolutions that established this multinational military force were approved without the consent of Russia, one of the permanent members of the Security Council, as Moscow was then boycotting the UN against Taiwanese representation.
“The illegal and aggressive ‘UN Command’ should be dissolved without delay, and this is an essential prerequisite for restoring the authority and impartiality of the UN and promoting peace and stability of the Korean peninsula,” it said.
Following Tuesday’s first meeting of UN Command member countries, participants are expected to adopt a joint statement urging North Korea to respect Security Council resolutions that prohibit it from developing weapons of mass destruction.
During his visit to Seoul, Austin met Tuesday with his South Korean counterpart Shin Won-sik and on Sunday he held a trilateral meeting in which Japan’s Defense Minister Minoru Kihara also participated by video conference.
The defense ministers of Seoul, Tokyo and Washington confirmed during that meeting that the mechanism for sharing real-time data on North Korea’s missile launches will be fully operational in December. EFE
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