Ambassador Chung Kim explained that as the 110th birthday of Kim Il Sung, the founder of Korea’s ruling dynasty, is to be celebrated on April 15, Washington expects it to showcase its growing nuclear capabilities on a large scale.
“As the April 15 anniversary approaches, we are concerned that North Korea may provoke another provocative move,” Chung Kim told reporters, recalling the recent ballistic missile tests conducted by Pyongyang.
North Korea has conducted several nuclear tests since 2006, the last being in 2017.
And according to the US ambassador, Pyongyang continues to ignore Washington’s efforts to renew the dialogue on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
“We have not received any response from Pyongyang, which is very disappointing. We have sent many messages, both public and private, inviting them to the conversation without ‘preconditions’,” he said, adding that the latest ballistic missile tests “pose a serious threat to regional stability”.
Chung Kim further stressed that neither China nor Russia was helping US President Joe Biden in his attempt to resume talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Talks on curbing the nuclear threat from Pyongyang saw progress under Donald Trump but then stalled.
Since Joe Biden came to power, North Korea has launched 13 missile tests, which last month launched a ballistic missile capable of reaching the east coast of the United States carrying a single atom.
Kim Jong Un’s influential sister Kim Yoo Jong said on Tuesday that North Korea would use nuclear weapons to “destroy” the South Korean military if it carried out a precautionary attack.
According to Chung Kim, Washington is a member of the UN. The Security Council requested that in addition to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s ongoing inspections in Iran, that it monitor Iran’s compliance with “the steps required by the IAEA Board”.
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