UN chief calls for diplomatic solution in meeting with N. Korean top diplomat

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on the North Korean top diplomat to diplomatically resolve tensions on the Korean Peninsula during their meeting in New York, the North's state-run news agency said Sunday.

The UN chief held a 30-minute meeting with Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho following the minister's key-note address at the UN General Assembly on Saturday (US time) as Guterres customarily has done with other foreign ministers attending the UN meeting.

Minister Ri reasserted his country's staunch commitment to respond to the American leader's warning to "totally destroy" North Korea, the Korean Central News Agency said of the meeting.

Ri also stressed to Guterres that the UN should fulfill its role and mission to guarantee peace and security of the world as well as to achieve international justice, the KCNA said.
 

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, left, is greeted by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres before a meeting, Saturday. (AP-Yonhap)

"Secretary-General Guterres expressed his opinion that the issues of the Korean Peninsula should be resolved politically and diplomatically, not militarily," according to the North Korean news outlet.

In his UN address shortly before the meeting, Ri launched a rhetorical attack on Trump for threatening to "totally destroy" the North Korean regime, a remark Trump made during his UN address earlier. Ri called Trump "mentally deranged person full of megalomania and complaisance."

Ri also warned that North Korea will take "merciless preventive action" if the US shows any sign of a "decapitating operation on our headquarters or military attack against our country."

The KCNA also added that during his latest visit to the UN, Ri held meetings with the foreign ministers of Cuba, Belarus and Sweden as well as the chief UN representatives from Bolivia, Kazakhstan and Senegal. (Yonhap)