North Korea condemns U.S. military attack on Libya

[News_Editor]

North Korea condemns U.S. military attack on Libya

2011-03-23 01:00:51 GMT+7 (ICT)

PYONGYANG (BNO NEWS) -- North Korea's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday strongly condemned the U.S. military intervention in Libya, which it called a 'hideous crime against humanity,' while at the same time justifying its own nuclear program.

The coalition military intervention, which the U.S. but also other countries such as France and the United Kingdom participate in, was approved in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973. The Resolution authorizes the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya and calls to take "all necessary measures" to protect Libyan civilians from government-led attacks.

In an interview with state-run media, an unidentified spokesman for North Korea's Foreign Ministry condemned the military intervention, which it largely blamed on the United States. "It openly interfered in the internal affairs of Libya, sparking off a civil war, and then [they] cooked up a deceptive resolution by abusing the authority of the UN Security Council. It finally perpetrated indiscriminate armed intervention in the country, going beyond the limits of the resolution," the spokesman said.

North Korea, which is not a member of the UN Security Council and therefore was unable to vote on the Resolution, "strongly denounced" the intervention as a "wanton violation" of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent state. It also called the strikes a "hideous crime against humanity in gross breach of the dignity of the Libyan people and their right to existence."

"The world is witnessing almost everyday the miserable death of a great many peaceable citizens and unspeakable disasters caused by two wars launched by the U.S. in the new century," the spokesman said, referring to the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Such war action can never be justified and should be halted at once."

The North Korean spokesman slammed the United States for now sparking a "fresh war disaster" in order to bring about a regime change in the name of protecting civilians. He also claimed the United States has put Libya's natural resources such as oil under its control.

However, UN Security Resolution 1973 forbids the occupation of Libya by coalition forces and there are no plans to send ground troops to the African nation, where security forces have violently cracked down on peaceful anti-government protesters.

"The U.S. does not hesitate to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and launch [an] armed invasion by abusing the UN name in disregard of the sovereignty of independent states. Such high-handed and arbitrary practices of the U.S. have become a root cause of harassing world peace and stability at present," the spokesman added.

North Korea further claimed that Libya's nuclear dismantlement several years ago was part of a U.S. plan to enforce its will upon Libya, while North Korea at the same time justified its own controversial nuclear program. "The present Libyan crisis teaches the international community a serious lesson," the Foreign Ministry said.

The spokesman added: "It was fully exposed before the world that Libya's nuclear dismantlement much touted by the U.S. in the past turned out to be a mode of aggression whereby the latter coaxed the former with such sweet words as 'guarantee of security' and 'improvement of relations' to disarm itself and then swallowed it up by force."

The spokesman said it proves 'once again the truth of history' that peace can only be achieved when a country builds up its own strength while "high-handed and arbitrary practices go on in the world."

"The DPRK was quite just when it took the path of Songun and the military capacity for self-defense built up in this course serves as a very valuable deterrent for averting a war and defending peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," the spokesman concluded.

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