Kim's sister blasts Security Council's 'double standards'

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un accused the United Nations Security Council of applying “double standards” to Pyongyang's latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch.

In footage released by Pyongyang's state-controlled Korean Central Television, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's wife, Ri Sol-ju, far left, and his sister Kim Yo-jong, second from left, celebrate the regime's successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch on Friday. [YONHAP]

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un accused the United Nations Security Council of applying “double standards” to Pyongyang's latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch.

In an English-language statement released Tuesday by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Yo-jong blasted a council meeting in New York on Monday that discussed North Korea’s launch of a Hwasong-17 ICBM last Friday.

“The Security Council has turned blind eyes to the very dangerous military drills of the U.S. and south Korea and their greedy arms buildup aiming at the DPRK and taken issue with the DPRK's exercise of its inviolable right to self-defense,” she said, referring to the North by the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

“This is evidently the application of double-standards,” she added, noting the Security Council meeting was convened “at the prodding” of the United States.

She warned that the North would take the “toughest counteraction to the last” in response to efforts to condemn what it views as justified actions to defend itself.

“The U.S. should be mindful that no matter how desperately it may seek to disarm the DPRK, it can never deprive the DPRK of its right to self-defense and that the more hell-bent it gets on the anti-DPRK acts, it will face a more fatal security crisis,” KCNA reported Kim as saying.

The statement came after Monday’s Security Council meeting concluded without a resolution on the ICBM launch, as veto-wielding members China and Russia continued to blame the escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula on the United States.

“The U.S. should take the initiative, show sincerity, put forward realistic and feasible proposals, respond positively to the legitimate concerns of the DPRK and turn the dialogue from a formality into a reality as soon as possible,” said Zhang Jun, China's ambassador to the UN, speaking through an interpreter.

Anna Evstigneeva, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, suggested agreement with the North’s claimed justification for conducting the ICBM launch.

“The United States and its allies in the region carry out large scale exercises, the DPRK reacts accordingly as expected, and then we meet here to discuss it all,” she said in a speech to the council, speaking through an interpreter.

U.S. officials asserted that Russia and especially China were doing little to rein in the North Korean missile threat.

Speaking at the Security Council meeting, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, “This is the 10th time that we have met without significant actions,” and also asked, “How many more missiles must get launched before we respond as a unified council?”

The ICBM launched by Pyongyang on Friday was one of 63 ballistic missiles launched this year.

At a Tuesday virtual press briefing, White House National Security Council (NSC) coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said that Washington believes Beijing has “not put the kind of pressure we believe they can put on Pyongyang to stop their provocative actions.”

But the United States will continue to seek cooperation from China and other countries to stop North Korea from undertaking additional provocations, a Pentagon spokesperson said Tuesday.

“We have certainly been very vocal about destabilizing impacts and actions that North Korea continues to take, and we are going to continue to make clear our concerns,” Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told a press briefing, adding Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had raised the issue of North Korea in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Wei Fenghe, in Cambodia on Tuesday.

“We are going to continue to do that not just with China, but with other countries around the world,” she added.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]