Pakistan urges dialogue to lower tensions following North Korea’s latest missile launch

Voicing concern over North Korea’s latest launch of a ballistic missile, Pakistan has called for diplomatic engagement and dialogue to address the challenges confronting the Korean Peninsula, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

North Korea on Monday fired a missile as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited South Korea, where he warned Pyongyang was working ever more closely with Russia on advanced space technology.

Blinken’s trip came as investigators were trying to arrest conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has entrenched himself in his residence after being impeached for a failed attempt to impose martial law

“We strongly support the calls for revival of talks among the relevant parties,” Ambassador Munir Akram, permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council today, which met two days after North Korea fired off what Pyongyang described as a new type of intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile (IRBM) loaded with a hypersonic glide vehicle.

Ambassador Akram called these developments “detrimental to regional and international peace and security”.

He added that Pakistan supported the objective of denuclearisation in the Korean peninsula, the implementation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, and the goals of global non-proliferation and disarmament.

“Provocations such as missile tests on the one hand — and coercive actions and threats on the other — must be ended,” the Pakistani envoy said.

“Pakistan opposes any further nuclear weapons testing in Korea or elsewhere.”

In this regard, Ambassador Akram called on all parties to exercise restraint and not escalate existing tensions, urging the Security Council to consider adopting some Confidence Building Measures by the parties to reduce tensions.

Pakistan, he added, remains committed to working within the framework established by the United Nations resolutions to promote peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.

“We hope that the Security Council will find ways of reviving the dialogue and playing its due role in reducing tensions and threats to peace and security in the region.

Opening the debate, a senior UN official warned that North Korea has been actively working towards acquiring new military capabilities that undermine the global non-proliferation architecture.

“While stating that the launch had no negative impact on the security of neighbouring countries, (Pyongyang) regrettably did not issue airspace or maritime safety notifications,” said Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations.

According to the country’s official statement, the system can “deal a serious military strike to a rival by effectively breaking any of its dense defensive barriers”, he said, adding that hypersonic glide vehicles travel at least five times the speed of sound and make evasive manoeuvres, making defence measures against the weapon much more difficult.

For his part, North Korean Ambassador Song Kim stressed that the test-fire of a new-type intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile is part of the plan to develop national defence capabilities to enhance the sustainability of the strategic deterrent, in conformity with the changing security environment of the region. As such, it had no negative impact on the neighbouring countries security.

He further pointed out that — despite the civilian death toll in Gaza — the United States embellishes Israel’s nefarious mass atrocities as “the right to self-defence”.

Meanwhile, it takes issue with Pyongyang’s legitimate exercise of the right to self-defence, he observed, rejecting such “nuclear blackmail”.

If “physical conflict” is created on the Peninsula due to “the reckless mania kicked up by the United States and the Republic of Korea (South Korea)”, the Council should be held accountable for criminalizing the just exercise of his country’s sovereign right by applying double standards, Ambassador Song asserted.

Additional input from AFP