In a relatively mild speech, North Korea uses UN platform to lament ‘mutual distrust’ and tension

North Korea used its yearly U.N. platform on Monday to warn other world leaders of “a harsh reality rampant with unprecedented mutual distrust and confrontation,” but said that it would endure and, in a multilateral world, “surely attain all that we plan to, relying entirely on our own efforts.”

It was, by Pyongyang’s standards, a relatively mild speech that contained no direct threats.

The annual opportunity for the country, whose formal name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, to speak on the world stage fell this year to Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong. Like many nations, he touted the notion of U.N.-focused multilateralism, yet repeatedly insisted that North Korea could — and would, if necessary — go it alone.

“Gone are the days when an individual member state unilaterally imposed its will on the rest of the world and dominated the international political arena,” Kim said. “Instead, multilateralism and multipolarization have emerged as an irresistible aspiration and trend of the times based on justice and equity.”

North Korea is frequently at odds with South Korea, Japan and the United States, which are tightly aligned in matters of security in East Asia. Kim asserted once again that his nation, no matter the external threat, is prepared to defend itself.

“No physical conflict has occurred on and around the Korean Peninsula, a hot spot of the world, and the security index is being maintained at a higher level than any other part of the globe,” he said. “We owe it to the fact that the DPRK has a war deterrent in place powerful enough to break anyone’s will to start a war of aggression against the DPRK and that we are thoroughly containing and managing the hostile forces’ intention to use force.”

A range of remarks across subjects

As is typical for North Korean speeches at the U.N. — and, for that matter, for many nations’ speeches — Kim’s remarks ranged across the nation’s priorities and goals, with special emphasis on its ability to defend itself in a volatile security situation in East Asia. A sampling:

— On Japan: “An A-class war criminal.”

— On the regional balance of power in East Asia: “maintained by the DPRK’s self-defensive capabilities.”

— On the United Nations itself: “The organization still fails to recover from functional paralysis owing to the high-handedness and unilateralism of a handful of countries pursuing only chauvinistic interests.”

— On nuclear weapons: “The DPRK’s nuclear deterrent is the absolute might and irresistible force designed, from A to Z, to safeguard the sovereignty, security and peace against aggression and threat from outside.”

“The DPRK will continue to strictly control and manage every external threat by dint of her supremacy in overwhelming strength,” Kim said.

Intense rhetoric is a hallmark of North Korea

North Korea’s rhetoric is often overheated and its criticism of rivals often over the top. Monday was no exception. What seemed noteworthy, though, was how pro forma it felt: There were no threats of anything that might destabilize the region or cause other nations from Japan to South Korea to the United States to brace for any specific moves.

Saying that “a more offensive and aggressive military bloc with a nuclear element” and its activities have provoked North Korea and destabilized the Korean Peninsula, Kim condemned what he framed as the collusion of Tokyo, Seoul and Washington against Pyongyang. He made no mention of North Korea’s role in tensions on the peninsula, including sporadic missile launches that send its rivals scrambling.

Two days before the U.N. meeting in which he was speaking began, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea, days after it threatened to bolster its nuclear deterrent capabilities.

Kim is a relatively mid-level official in leader Kim Jong Un’s third-generation government, and thus spoke as one of the final speakers of the final day of the leaders’ meeting, or General Debate.

The Korean Peninsula split in two after North Korea and South Korea fought a bloody war from 1950 to 1953, backed by China and the United States, respectively. Though an armistice was eventually signed, the two countries remain in a technical state of war, and the border between them is guarded by a heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone.

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Ted Anthony, Asia-Pacific news director for The Associated Press from 2014 to 2018, has visited North Korea multiple times.