UN chief says DPRK crisis is the worst 'in years'

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in an interview published Sunday, said the showdown over the nuclear and missile programs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was the world's worst crisis "in years" and had left him deeply worried.

"To date, we have had wars which have been initiated after a well thought-out decision," Guterres said in an interview published by the French Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.

This file photo from DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) taken on August 29, 2017, and released on August 30, 2017, shows DPRK's intermediate-range strategic ballistic missile Hwasong-12 lifting off from the launching pad at an undisclosed location near Pyongyang. /AFP Photo‍

"But we also know that other conflicts have started through an escalation caused by sleepwalking. "We have to hope that the seriousness of this threat puts us on the path of reason before it is too late," said Guterres, according to the French language account of the interview.

"It's the most serious (crisis) that we have had to face in years," he said, admitting he was "very worried". Guterres said the key question was to get the DPRK to stop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and respect UN Security Council resolutions.

"But we must also maintain the unity of the Security Council at all costs because it is the only tool which can carry out a diplomatic initiative with a chance of success," he said. The United States wants the Security Council to vote on Monday to impose tougher sanctions against Pyongyang.

A US-presented draft resolution calls for an oil embargo on the DPRK, an assets freeze on its leader Kim Jong Un, a ban on textiles exports and an end to payments of guest workers from the DPRK. Diplomatic sources said Russia and China opposed the measures as a whole, except for the ban on textiles, during a meeting of experts Friday.

Source(s): AFP