N. Korea calls for UN reform, berates UNSC as puppet of US

Published : Mar 14, 2017 - 15:05 Updated : Mar 14, 2017 - 15:05

North Korea on Tuesday called for the reform of the United Nations as its earlier attempt to make the ongoing South Korea-US joint military drills an agenda item at the UN Security Council has failed.

"The Security Council has degenerated into a puppet of (the United States) and a maid of hegemonism," the Rodong Sinmun, a daily of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said in a commentary titled, "The UN Should Be Reformed As Befitted Its Mission."

South Korea's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lee Sun-jin (3rd from R) and Vincent Brooks, commander of the US Forces Korea (L), visit the USS Carl Vinson on March 12, 2017. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is participating in the two countries' Foal Eagle exercise that will continue until March 24. (Photo courtesy of JCS) (Yonhap)

The Council has yet to reply to the North's earlier request to make the two-month drills -- Foal Eagle and Key Resolve --- an agenda item at its meeting, the paper said. The allies kicked off the annual drills against the North's military provocations on March 1.

On March 7, Ja Song-nam, the North Korean representative to the United Nations, made the call in a letter sent a letter to rotating UNSC President Matthew Rycroft, denouncing the military exercises as a blatant plot to drive the Korean Peninsula to a nuclear war.

The paper claimed that the UN did not raise any questions about the US war against Iraq under the pretext that it had weapons of mass destruction.

"The case proves that it's stupid to try to address problems directly related to the fate of a country via the Security Council," the paper said.

The Council should no longer allow the US to act arbitrarily, and the UN should be democratized, the paper said.

A regulation should be enacted to ensure that Council-adopted resolutions, particularly sanctions and the use of force, can take effect only through the approval of the UN General Assembly now that they influence security and peace, the paper added. (Yonhap)