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 June 2:

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

The sovereign equality, respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs are the basis of the establishment of the United Nations as well as the main spirits of the UN Charter.

If UN Secretary-General Guterres stubbornly regards it as his duty to express his stand on the DPRK's satellite launch, 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 give rational explanation why he doesn't take issue with other countries' satellite launch but only blames the DPRK for launching satellite.

I am ready to patiently listen to what the UN Secretary-General says, in case he has his own convincing ground or reason different from the non-commonsensible and far-fetched assertion of the U.S. and its followers that the DPRK's satellite launch is in violation of UN Security Council "resolutions" because it uses ballistic missile technology, 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 don’t expect that he would give a satisfactory answer to the questions of the DPRK and the international community.

The UNSC "sanctions resolutions" that deny an individual UN member state its legitimate right to space development are nothing but illegal documents wantonly violating the UN Charter and 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 a 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 satellites 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 am of the view that Secretary-General Guterres should devote more attention and energy to the pending global issues to which the international community awaits immediate solutions rather than needlessly interfering in the natural exercise of the sovereignty of UN member states.