North Korea condemns UNSC over meeting on missile test

ANKARA (AA) - North Korea on Monday accused the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) of "double standard" as its sanctions committee criticized Pyongyang's recent missile test.

"If the UN Security Council persists in the double standard, it will instigate not detente but the aggravation of the situation, and not dialogue but confrontation on the Korean peninsula," Jo Chol Su, the director-general at the Department of International Organizations, said in a statement, published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

"We will never overlook the fact that some member nations of the UN Security Council are using the United Nations for their dishonest purpose to infringe upon the sovereignty of the independent countries and hinder their development," he added.

This came after a UN Security Council Sanctions Committee meeting held on March 26, a day after Pyongyang fired two short-range ballistic missiles. The committee also decided to have a closed session on March 30 to discuss the recent missile fire.

At the committee meeting, the US called for imposing additional sanctions and tightening the implementation of existing measures, denouncing the test as a violation of UN resolutions, Su said.

Ri Pyong Chol, secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, said the country's latest missile tests were in line with its "legitimate right to self-defense."

Last week, US President Joe Biden warned that there would be "responses" if North Korea continues with such escalations while also conveying that his administration is "prepared for some form of diplomacy […] conditioned on the end result of denuclearization."

In response, North Korea on Saturday said Washington might face "undesirable happenings" if it continues its provocations and "habitual hostility" against Pyongyang.