North Korea on Saturday condemned recent comments by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about Pyongyang’s nuclear program, which it said posed a “clear and real danger”, AFP reported.

Earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an “exponential increase in North Korea’s nuclear arsenal,” while the ruling Workers’ Party announced the development of a “new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system.”

Guterres told a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday that North Korea should “return to the negotiating table” that failed in 2019.

“The illegal nuclear weapons program of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea poses a clear and present danger that increases geopolitical risks and tensions,” Guterres said at a meeting on the rule of law, according to the UN website.

On Saturday night, Pyongyang condemned the “typical double standards” of Guterres, who was also accused of “destroying the international community’s trust in the United Nations,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

The statement, attributed to Cho Chol-soo, a senior foreign ministry official, also criticized the UN secretary-general for ignoring the “reckless arms build-up” of the United States, which “constantly launches any nuclear strikes against the Koreans”. peninsula and in the region”.

Both Seoul and Washington say Pyongyang plans to conduct another nuclear test soon, the seventh in its history and the first since 2017.