UN chief raps N. Korea over missiles, abductions of Japanese

NEW YORK (Kyodo) — U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned North Korea on Thursday for continuing ballistic missile tests in defiance of resolutions adopted by the world body’s Security Council and failing to provide sufficient information about abducted Japanese nationals.

“I strongly condemn any attempts of North Korea to launch missiles or to develop nuclear weapons,” Guterres told a press conference.

The secretary general said it is “absolutely essential” that North Korea abides by Security Council resolutions that ban any activities using ballistic missile technology.

North Korea has test-fired many ballistic missiles in recent years. It also sent a spy satellite into Earth’s orbit last year using a rocket which is part of a space program that also constitutes a violation of the resolutions due to it using banned ballistic missile technology.

The Security Council has repeatedly convened meetings after North Korean missile launches but a consensus over how to address them has been elusive due to a split between veto-wielding permanent members such as the United States, Russia and China.

Guterres also criticized Pyongyang for abducting Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s and for its failure to respond to Tokyo’s calls to provide information about them.

“It is unacceptable” to keep the abductees “for decades without proper information” supplied to their families about whether they are alive or dead, Guterres said.

Japan officially lists 17 people as having been taken to North Korea. Five returned in 2002 but Pyongyang maintains eight have died and four others never entered the country. Tokyo has not accepted the claim and urged Pyongyang to disclose more detailed information.