N. Korea urges UN to welcome improved ties on Korean peninsula

UNITED NATIONS, US: Pyongyang urged the United Nations on Thursday to welcome improved ties on the Korean peninsula and speak out against US-South Korea military drills that could derail the thaw.

In a letter to UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres, North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said his country will not ‘sit idle’ as the US engages in a ‘sinister act of throwing a wet blanket over our efforts’. After a series of threatening missile tests, North Korea in January agreed to hold talks with the South and send athletes to the Winter Olympic Games opening next week.

“Owing to our magnanimous initiative, good results are borne in the inter-Korean dialogue, thus giving joy to all fellow countrymen, and a positive atmosphere in favour of improving inter-Korean relations is created,” the foreign minister wrote.

Ri expressed concern that the US is planning ‘large-scale aggressive joint military exercise’ with South Korea after the Olympic Games.

He urged Guterres to request that the Security Council discuss “the issue of welcoming the process of improved inter-Korean relations and discouraging the neighbouring countries from disturbing the process.”

Guterres will pay an official visit to South Korea next week for talks with leaders in Seoul and to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Thursday did not rule out that the UN chief could meet with a North Korean official during his visit. —