North Korea Takes Milder Tone at U.N., Decrying 'Mutual Distrust' but Avoiding Direct Threats
UNITED NATIONS — North Korea used its annual U.N. platform on Monday to warn of a world riven by unprecedented mutual distrust and confrontation, but the message from Pyongyang was notably restrained by its own standards. There were no direct threats and no specific warnings of new military moves.
Speaking for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong said his country would endure external pressure and, in a multipolar world, would achieve its goals through self-reliance. The annual address gives North Korea a rare chance to speak on the world stage; this year it fell to Kim, a relatively mid-level official in leader Kim Jong Un's government, who spoke near the end of the final day of the U.N. General Debate.
Like many nations at the annual meeting, Kim endorsed U.N.-centered multilateralism. But he repeatedly returned to the idea that North Korea could—and would, if necessary—go it alone.
“Gone are the days when an individual member state unilaterally imposed its will on the rest of the world and dominated the international political arena,” he said. “Instead, multilateralism and multipolarization have emerged as an irresistible aspiration and trend of the times based on justice and equity.”
North Korea is frequently at odds with South Korea, Japan and the United States, which are tightly aligned on security matters in East Asia. Kim asserted that no matter the external threat, his nation is prepared to defend itself.
“No physical conflict has occurred on and around the Korean Peninsula, a hot spot of the world, and the security index is being maintained at a higher level than any other part of the globe,” he said. He attributed that to what he called a DPRK war deterrent powerful enough to break any adversary's will to start a war of aggression, and to Pyongyang's efforts to contain and manage hostile forces' intention to use force.
As is typical in North Korean speeches at the United Nations—and in many nations' addresses—Kim ranged across his country's priorities and goals. He placed special emphasis on self-defense in a volatile East Asian security environment. A sampling of his remarks:
— On Japan: “An A-class war criminal.”
— On the regional balance of power in East Asia: “Maintained by the DPRK's self-defensive capabilities.”
— On the United Nations itself: “The organization still fails to recover from functional paralysis owing to the high-handedness and unilateralism of a handful of countries pursuing only chauvinistic interests.”
— On nuclear weapons: “The DPRK's nuclear deterrent is the absolute might and irresistible force designed, from A to Z, to safeguard the sovereignty, security and peace against aggression and threat from outside.”
“The DPRK will continue to strictly control and manage every external threat by dint of her supremacy in overwhelming strength,” Kim said.
North Korea's rhetoric is often overheated, and its criticism of rivals often over the top. Monday was no exception. What seemed noteworthy, though, was how pro forma the address felt: There were no threats of anything that might destabilize the region or push Japan, South Korea and the United States to brace for any specific moves.
Kim condemned what he described as a “more offensive and aggressive military bloc with a nuclear element” and said its activities had provoked North Korea and destabilized the Korean Peninsula. He framed Tokyo, Seoul and Washington as colluding against Pyongyang. He made no mention of North Korea's own role in tensions on the peninsula, including sporadic missile launches that send its rivals scrambling.
Two days before the U.N. gathering where he spoke began, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea, days after it threatened to bolster its nuclear deterrent capabilities. The launch highlighted the gap between Pyongyang's restrained diplomatic language and its continuing weapons tests.
The Korean Peninsula split in two after North Korea and South Korea fought a bloody war from 1950 to 1953, backed by China and the United States, respectively. Though an armistice was eventually signed, the two countries remain in a technical state of war, and the border between them is guarded by a heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone. That unresolved conflict remains the backdrop for North Korea's insistence that it needs a powerful deterrent—and for the security cooperation among Washington, Seoul and Tokyo that Pyongyang condemns.
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Ted Anthony, Asia-Pacific news director for The Associated Press from 2014 to 2018, has visited North Korea multiple times.