MOSCOW/UNITED NATIONS/SEOUL: Russia accused the United States on Thursday of trying to provoke North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un into “flying off the handle” over his missile programme to hand Washington a pretext to destroy his country.
In some of his most robust comments on the subject to date, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also flatly rejected a US call to cut ties with Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile programme and said US policy towards North Korea was deeply flawed.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have flared after North Korea said it had successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday in a “breakthrough” that put the US mainland within range of its nuclear weapons.
Russia has condemned the test, like others before it, as “a provocation,” but Lavrov said the way the United States was handling the situation was dangerously provocative.
“The latest US actions look designed to deliberately provoke Pyongyang into taking new extreme action,” Lavrov told reporters in Belarus, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry transcript.
Lavrov said he was referring to joint US-South Korean military exercises planned for December, which he said US officials had intimated to Russia would not take place until spring to open a window for tensions to be defused.
“We were encouraged by that approach. And then suddenly... they announced large-scale exercises in December. We have the impression that it was all done specially to get Kim Jong-Un to “fly off the handle” and take another reckless step.”
The air forces of the United States and South Korea are scheduled to hold a regular joint drill early next month with six US F-22 Raptor stealth fighters taking part.
“The Americans need to explain to us all if they want to find a pretext to destroy North Korea. Let them say it directly... then we can take a decision about how to react,” said Lavrov.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Wednesday called for other countries to sever all ties with Pyongyang, including cutting trade links and expelling North Korean workers.
“We regard this negatively,” Lavrov said. “We have already said many times that sanctions pressure has exhausted itself.”
He also complained that the United States was “totally ignoring” a UN demand for talks with North Korea.
“I think it’s a big mistake,” said Lavrov.
US WARNING: The United States warned that North Korea’s leadership will be “utterly destroyed” if war breaks out as it called on countries to cut all diplomatic and trade ties with North Korea — including Chinese oil shipments to Pyongyang.
Washington urged tough action at an emergency meeting of the Security Council held on Wednesday to respond to North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
“The dictator of North Korea made a choice yesterday that brings the world closer to war, not farther from it,” US Ambassador Nikki Haley told the council.
“If war comes, make no mistake: The North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed.”
Europe, like the United States, is now in reach of North Korea’s ballistic missiles, French Defence Minister Florence Parly warned on Thursday.
The regime’s test of its third intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday is “a demonstration of (Pyongyang’s) rising power” Parly told BFM television.
LATEST MISSILE LARGER: Imagery released on Thursday of North Korea’s latest missile test showed new rocket engines and a larger design that likely puts Kim Jong-Un closer to his goal of being able to deliver a nuclear warhead to a target anywhere in the world, though without great accuracy yet, analysts said.
— Reuters/AFP
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