Pyongyang, June 2 (KCNA) -- Jo Chol Su, director general of the Department of International Organizations of the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, made public the following press statement on Friday:

I strongly protest against the "statement" issued by the UN secretary-general denouncing the DPRK's launch of military reconnaissance satellite and resolutely condemn and reject his improper behavior of encroaching upon the legitimate sovereign right of a member state of the UN as an extremely unfair and unbalanced act of interfering in its internal affairs.

The equality of sovereignty, respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs are the basis of the establishment of the UN as well as the basic spirit of the UN Charter.

If UN Secretary-General Guterres eagerly regards the expression of his stand on the DPRK's satellite launch as his duty, he should first learn how to equally treat the 190-odd UN member states in conformity with his duty stipulated in the UN Charter, and properly explain the reason why he doesn't take issue with other countries' satellite launch but only blames the DPRK for launching satellite.

In case the UN secretary-general has his own convincing ground or reason, separately from the non-commonsensible and far-fetched assertion of the U.S. and its followers that the DPRK's satellite launch is contrary to the "resolutions" of the UN Security Council because it uses ballistic missile technology, I am ready to patiently listen to what he says.

But in view of the unbalanced and prejudiced stand and attitude Secretary-General Guterres has shown so far in regard to the issue of the Korean peninsula, I never expect that he would make an answer to satisfy the questions of the DPRK and the international community.

The UNSC "sanction resolutions" against the DPRK that ban the legitimate right of an individual member state of the UN to develop space are nothing but illegal documents wantonly violating the UN Charter and other international laws as they are a product of the U.S. and its followers' hostile policy toward the DPRK aimed to deprive it of its sovereignty and rights to existence and development.

The DPRK's launch of military reconnaissance satellite is a logical and legitimate response to the undisguised military threat of the U.S. and its allies and an exercise of the universal right of a sovereign state to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Nobody is entitled to take issue with this, even though he is the UN secretary-general.

The DPRK will continue to proudly exercise its sovereignty including the launch of military reconnaissance satellite to prove that the UN is not a monopoly of the U.S. and the U.S. high-handed and arbitrary practices and unilateralism can never work on the world.

I think that Secretary-General Guterres should pay bigger attention and energy to the international pending issues that the international community awaits an immediate solution rather than needlessly interfering in the natural exercise of the sovereignty of UN member states. -0-

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