By Zachary Keck
A senior North Korean official at the United Nations says the U.S. reminds Pyongyang of a “mentally retarded patient.”
On Friday, a senior North Korean official compared the United States to a “mentally retarded patient.”
Ri Tong-il, the North’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, gave one of North Korea’s increasingly frequent UN press conferences on Friday.
The primary purpose of the press conference appears to have been to charge the UN Security Council (UNSC) as being controlled by the U.S. and its allies. In particular, Ri said that he had requested an emergency meeting with the UN Security Council on July 21 to discuss joint U.S.-South Korea military drills, which Pyongyang claims are actually preparations for an attack against it. So far, Ri said he has not received a response from the UNSC.
“If the Security Council turns away from this emergency meeting, it will only expose itself as a UN body which has lost its principles, impartiality and responsibility,” Ri said at the UNSC meeting, according to the New York Times. The U.S. is a permanent, veto-wielding member of the UNSC, and South Korea is currently a rotating member of the body.
However, during the hour long press conference, Ri went on to claim that the U.S. is trying to subvert inter-Korean talks, in order to make South Korea dependent on it. While this is a common accusation from the North, Ri went on to say that this behavior “is reminding us of the historical lasting symptom of a mentally retarded patient.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat