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UN Decries Israeli Ban on Guterres Entering the Country

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres listens to the United Nations Security Council meeting, following a ballistic missile attack on Israel, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, October 2, 2024. REUTERS/Stephani Spindel
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres listens to the United Nations Security Council meeting, following a ballistic missile attack on Israel, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, October 2, 2024. REUTERS/Stephani Spindel
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UN Decries Israeli Ban on Guterres Entering the Country

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres listens to the United Nations Security Council meeting, following a ballistic missile attack on Israel, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, October 2, 2024. REUTERS/Stephani Spindel
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres listens to the United Nations Security Council meeting, following a ballistic missile attack on Israel, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, October 2, 2024. REUTERS/Stephani Spindel

The United Nations has said Israel’s ban on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres entering the country is a “political statement.”

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters Wednesday that Foreign Minister Israel Katz saying Guterres is “persona non grata” is “one more attack on the United Nations staff that we’ve seen from the government of Israel.”

Katz accuses Guterres of being biased against Israel, and says he never condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel. Israel also claims staff from the UN aid agency helping Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, are Hamas members who participated in the Oct. 7 attacks.

Dujarric countered that Guterres has repeatedly condemned the Hamas attacks and sexual violence, and stressed that the UN still engages with Israel “at the operational level and other levels.”

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NKorea's Kim Threatens to Destroy South with Nuclear Strikes if Provoked

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting the training base of the special operations unit of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in an undisclosed location in the west of North Korea, 02 October 2024 (issued 04 October 2024). EPA/KCNA
A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting the training base of the special operations unit of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in an undisclosed location in the west of North Korea, 02 October 2024 (issued 04 October 2024). EPA/KCNA
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NKorea's Kim Threatens to Destroy South with Nuclear Strikes if Provoked

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting the training base of the special operations unit of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in an undisclosed location in the west of North Korea, 02 October 2024 (issued 04 October 2024). EPA/KCNA
A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting the training base of the special operations unit of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in an undisclosed location in the west of North Korea, 02 October 2024 (issued 04 October 2024). EPA/KCNA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened to use nuclear weapons and destroy South Korea permanently if provoked, state media reported Friday, after the South’s leader warned that Kim’s regime would collapse if he attempted to use nuclear arms.

During a visit to a special operation forces unit on Wednesday, Kim said his military “would use without hesitation all the offensive forces it possesses, including nuclear weapons,” if South Korea attempts to use armed forces encroaching upon the sovereignty of North Korea, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
“If such a situation comes, the permanent existence of Seoul and the Republic of Korea would be impossible,” Kim said, using South Korea’s official name.
Kim’s statement was a response to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s speech at his country’s Armed Forces Day on Tuesday. Unveiling South Korea’s most powerful Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile and other conventional weapons that could target North Korea, Yoon said the day that North Korea tries to use nuclear weapons would be the end of the Kim government because Kim would face “the resolute and overwhelming response” of the South Korean-US alliance.
According to The Associated Press, Kim responded that Yoon’s address fully betrayed his “bellicose temerity” and showed “the security uneasiness and irritating psychology of the puppet forces.”
In a derisive comment, Kim called Yoon "an abnormal man,” saying that “the puppet Yoon bragged about an overwhelming counteraction of military muscle at the doorstep of a state that possesses nuclear weapons.” On Thursday, Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, also ridiculed South Korea's showcasing of the Hyunmoo-5 missile, saying there there’s no way for South Korea to counter the North Korea’s nuclear forces with conventional weapons.
On Friday, South Korea’s military said North Korea was again flying balloons likely carrying trash across the border into South Korea. Since late May, North Korea has launched thousands of rubbish-carrying balloons toward South Korea, prompting South Korea to resume anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts at border areas.