N KOREA THREAT NEEDS GLOBAL RESPONSE
LONDON: North Korea’s “reckless behaviour” is a global threat and requires a global response, the head of the NATO military alliance said on Sunday.
NATO is not directly involved in the crisis, which saw Pyongyang carry out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test a week ago, but has repeatedly called on North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
“The reckless behaviour of North Korea is a global threat and requires a global response and that of course also includes NATO,” NATO head Jens Stoltenbergsaid in an interview with BBC television.
Stoltenberg declined to say whether the US territory of Guam, threatened by North Korea, was covered by NATO’S Article 5, which says an attack on one member is an attack on all. “We are now totally focused on how can we contribute to a peaceful solution of the conflict,” he said.
British defence minister Michael Fallon also told the
BBC military conflict should be avoided at all costs.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in an interview published on Sunday, said the showdown over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programme was the world’s worst crisis “in years” and had left him deeply worried.
“To date, we have had wars which have been initiated after a well thought-out decision,” Guterres said in an interview published by the French Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche. “But we also know that other conflicts have started through an escalation caused by sleepwalking.
“We have to hope that the seriousness of this threat puts us on the path of reason before it is too late,” said Guterres, according to the French language account of the interview.
“It’s the most serious (crisis) that we have had to face in years,” he said, admitting he was “very worried”.
Guterres said the key question was to get North Korea to stop its nuclear and ballistic missile programme and respect UN Security Council resolutions. “But we must also main- tain the unity of the Security Council at all costs, because it is the only tool which can carry out a diplomatic initiative with a chance of success,” he said.