A North Korean vice foreign minister has denounced the US ambassador to the United Nations for visiting Japan and South Korea to discuss how to continue monitoring sanctions on North Korea.
Kim Son Gyong, the vice foreign minister for international organizations, released a statement on Friday through the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
The statement says that the visit to Asia by US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield is “no more than an aid-begging trip of a loser to enliven the weakened illegal sanctions…with the help of inferior allies.”
The statement notes that a more pressing issue for American diplomats now is to settle the worsening situation in the Middle East.
It says the diplomatic arena where Thomas-Greenfield “can properly display her diplomatic ability and qualifications is never the Korean peninsula but somewhere across the continent and the ocean.”
The mandate of a UN panel of experts monitoring the implementation of sanctions on North Korea is due to expire at the end of this month. Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have extended the mandate.
Thomas-Greenfield visited Seoul before arriving in Tokyo this week. She says the United States is working with Japan, South Korea and other like-minded countries to develop an alternative monitoring mechanism.