‘Do not call us North Korea,’ N. Korean delegation claims

As tensions rise with North Korea's troop deployment to Russia, a verbal clash erupted between South and North Korea during the First Committee meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday (local time). When the South Korean delegation referred to North Korea as "North Korea," the North Korean delegation protested, insisting on the use of “DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea).”

During the meeting, South Korean counselor Kim Sung-hoon mentioned, “There are videos online showing North Korean soldiers wearing Russian military uniforms and speaking Korean.” In response, Lim Mu Song, director at North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, retorted, “It is shameful for South Korean diplomats, who don’t even know the names of member countries, to talk about international peace and security.” North Korea typically refers to itself and South Korea as "DPRK" and "ROK (Republic of Korea)" respectively in UN meetings.

Meanwhile, the UN and the international community publicly condemned North Korea’s deployment to Russia. Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said, “Whether this deployment violates the Security Council sanctions against North Korea is a matter for the Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions Committee to review.”

The North Korean delegation countered these criticisms, calling them "baseless rumors" that damage North Korea's image and harm legitimate and friendly cooperation between sovereign states, as per the UN Charter.


Woo-Sun Lim imsun@donga.com