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North Korea has been given temporary control over the United Nations forum on nuclear disarmament, causing tempers to explode from other nations that point to the hermit nation’s testing of nuclear missiles.
The country has temporarily taken over the U.N.’s Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, an event that gathers three times a year, as part of the governing body’s tradition of rotating its presidency among members. But the decision to turn its leadership over to North Korea, which continues to test missiles, was blasted by other member states.
“We remain gravely concerned about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s reckless actions which continue to seriously undermine the very value of the Disarmament Conference,” Australian Ambassador Amanda Gorely said on behalf of a coalition of several countries.
“It certainly does call that into question when you have a regime like the DPRK in a senior leadership post, a regime that has done as much as any other government around the world to erode the non-proliferation norm,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price added.
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While 50 countries expressed concerns about Pyongyang’s role in leadership, none walked out of the room in protest, a typical gesture at the U.N. when opposing a participating nation’s presentation or arguments.
North Korea noted the country was still technically at war with the United States since the 1953 ceasefire that split the country and that “no country has the right to criticize or interfere in the national defense policy” of North Korea.
“My country is still at war with the United States,” said North Korean ambassador Han Tae Song as she took over the helm of the conference.
The country will hold the leadership position for at least three weeks, according to the BBC. Nations are selected in alphabetical order for the temporary assignment under U.N. guidelines.
The conference is the U.N.’s only permanent body for negotiating arms and nuclear accords in an effort to prevent nuclear war. The body, founded in 1979, has failed to develop meaningful charters since 1996’s Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
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North Korea tested a “nuclear detonation device” on May 25, according to South Korean officials. The country also launched three ballistic missiles last month ahead of President Joe Biden’s trip to Asia.
