Stoltenberg: North Korea Quits Nuclear Program

Secretary - General NATO Jens Stoltenberg said today that the irresponsible behaviour of North Korea is a global threat and that response to this threat must be global nature, Anadolu Agency broadcasts.

In an interview with the BBC, Stoltenberg stressed that NATO closely follows the situation on the Korean Peninsula, because South Korea and Japan are its close partners.

“Call on North Korea to give up the development of a nuclear programme and not conduct provocative nuclear testing”, Stoltenberg said, adding that these were serious violations of international norms and UN Security Council resolutions (KS-OKB).

Asked whether Article 5 of the NATO Agreement would be activated in the event of a North Korean attack on the American island of Guam, Stoltenberg said he does not want to speculate about this particular case.

“We are currently focused on contributing to the peaceful overcoming of the crisis and putting pressure on North Korea to give up the nuclear programme”, Stoltenberg said, adding that UN sanctions are currently the best means to exert pressure on the regime in Pheana.

Stoltenberg also commented on military exercises conducted by the Russian Army. He said all countries have the right to do so, but that in the Russian case, the problem was that the exercises were not transparent.

We saw earlier how Russia used military exercises as a front for attacks on neighbouring countries. That was the case in Georgia in 2008 when they invaded that country. That was true in the case of Crime in 2014, when Russia conducted an illegal annex. Therefore, we urge Russia to be fully transparent”, Stoltenberg said.

Recalling that the Vienna Agreement requires that all military exercises involving the participation of more than 13,000 soldiers should be monitored by international observers, Stoltenberg said Russia shows fewer soldiers participating in the exercise to avoid international supervision.