UN envoy arrived in DPRK as nuclear tensions soar

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The UN's political affairs chief arrived in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday, making the highest-level visit by a UN official in more than six years as tensions grip the region over Pyongyang's nuclear and weapons programs.

Jeffrey Feltman, a former senior official of the US State Department, plans to visit the DPRK from Tuesday to Friday and meet with DPRK officials to discuss "issues of mutual interest and concern," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, at the daily news briefing.

Dujarric said the visit was a reply to Pyongyang's invitation to conduct political dialogue with the UN.

CGTN Photo

Shortly after DPRK's ballistic missile launch on Nov. 29, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting and called for all measures possible to prevent escalation of tension on the Korean Peninsula.

DPRK's leader Kim Jong Un after the newly-developed intercontinental ballistic rocket Hwasong-15's test was successfully launched. /Reuters Photo

His trip comes a day after the US and South Korea launched their biggest-ever joint air exercise, maneuvers slammed by Pyongyang as an "all-out provocation."

The DPRK on Monday warned the US that it was pushing the two countries to the "brink of nuclear war."

"Given the grave risks associated with any military confrontation in exercise of its primary responsibility, the Security Council needs to do all it can to prevent an escalation," Feltman said at the emergency meeting.

Addressing the Security Council meeting, Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said the top priority in view of the current "grave situation" was for all parties to exercise restraint, implement UN sanctions, and strive for early resumption of dialogue and negotiations.

The DPRK has been under UN sanctions since 2006 over its missile and nuclear programs.

At a UN Security Council meeting last week to discuss the missile test, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said that while Washington does not seek war with Pyongyang, the DPRK regime would be "utterly destroyed" if war comes.

Dujarric said the DPRK issued the invitation for Feltman to visit on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York in September, but the visit was confirmed only late last week.

When asked if Feltman was paving the way for a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Dujarric said: "We hope to have more afterwards."

During his visit, Feltman will also visit UN's project sites and meet with UN staff. There are about 50 international staff working for six UN agencies in the DPRK: The UN Development Program, the UN children's agency UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Population Fund.

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency