Guterres reaffirms commitment to North Korea's denuclearization

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday expressed his "clear commitment" to North Korea's denuclearization during his visit to Seoul, weeks after Pyongyang said it was "ready to mobilize" deterrence.

"I affirm our clear commitment to the complete, verifiable and final denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, from North Korea," Guterres said in a meeting with South Korean President Yoon Sok-yeol.

He added that this "is an essential goal to bring peace, security and stability to the entire region," according to what was broadcast by local television.

Before arriving in Seoul Thursday, the UN Secretary-General visited Japan, where he delivered a speech marking the 77th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

And on Monday in the Japanese archipelago, he repeated the stern warning about the horrors of nuclear weapons that he issued in New York last week during a major conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

"We are witnessing an extreme in the geopolitical situation, which makes the threat of nuclear war once again something we cannot completely ignore," he said at a press conference in Tokyo on Monday.

Washington and Seoul have repeatedly warned in recent months that North Korea is preparing for another nuclear test, which will be the seventh in its history.

On Thursday, Pyongyang accused Seoul of being behind the COVID-19 outbreak in the country and threatened to "eliminate" South Korean leaders.

Kim Jong Un's regime conducted a record number of weapons tests this year, including an ICBM, for the first time since 2017.

In July, Kim Jong Un confirmed that his country was "ready to mobilize" its nuclear deterrent in the event of a military conflict with the United States or South Korea.

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