Republic of Korea rebukes DPRK at United Nations, cites violations of Security Council resolutions

The Representative of the Republic of Korea took the floor at the United Nations to exercise a formal right of reply to remarks by the DPRK, accusing Pyongyang of pursuing unlawful nuclear and ballistic-missile programs and of "demoniz[ing] the US and its allies to justify their pursuit of nuclear weapons."

The ROK representative said the DPRK's allegations were "preposterous and absurd" and reiterated that the "root cause of the problem is the DPRK's continued advancement of its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missiles in direct violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions," which the speaker said "threaten[] to undertake a preemptive nuclear attack, thus heightening tensions throughout the Korean Peninsula and in the region."

The speaker framed the Republic of Korea–United States defense posture as a protective measure: "As responsible governments, it is our duty ... to protect the lives and safety of our people from the DPRK's military threats by maintaining a robust Republic Korea US combined defense and deterrence posture." The representative added that recent extended-deterrence cooperation with the United States is "the very reason why we are strengthening extended cooperation," and not a cause of instability.

Addressing legal obligations, the representative reminded delegations that the UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting the DPRK's nuclear and ballistic-missile programs were "all of which were unanimously adopted" and urged the DPRK to "respect and abide by the Security Council resolution as stated in the Charter" if it wished to be a responsible member of the United Nations.

The reply concluded with a formal thanks to the presiding officer. No vote or formal action followed from the remarks recorded in the transcript.