North Korea calls UN chief ‘henchman’ of US
UNITED NATIONS – Agence France-Presse
North Korea on Feb. 22 accused U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of being a “kind of henchman who is representing the United States” after the U.N. chief said sanctions were essential to pressure Pyongyang.
North Korea’s mission to the United Nations released a statement complaining of “reckless remarks” by Guterres during the Munich Security Conference last week.
At the conference, Guterres praised the Security Council for succeeding in putting “through sanctions a very meaningful pressure over North Korea,” adding: “The pressure in my opinion is absolutely essential to be maintained.”
“This is nothing but an absurd sophistry inappropriate to his duty as secretary-general of the United Nations and only make us to think whether he is a kind of henchman who is representing the United States,” said the North Korean mission in a statement.
North Korea argued that the United States was at fault for the crisis on the Korean peninsula and that Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests were a legitimate form of self-defense.
Guterres’ remarks were “ill-minded”, said the mission, before requesting that the U.N. chief “refrain from his behavior acts like somnambulist any further.”
