South Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs: ``North Korea is proud of its nuclear test.''

``North Korea's nuclear and missile programs are a challenge faced by the international community,'' Kang In-seon, second vice minister of the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at the United Nations conference hall where disarmament issues were being discussed.
asked North Korea to halt its provocations. On the 26th (local time), Vice Minister Kang gave a speech at the High Level General Assembly of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament held at the United Nations Office in Geneva.
We are sounding the alarm against North Korea's illicit nuclear and missile programs, which are an ongoing challenge." He continued, ``North Korea's obsession with nuclear weapons and missiles poses an existential threat to disarmament and non-proliferation regimes.''
"In recent years, North Korea has repeatedly blatantly violated United Nations Security Council resolutions and launched more than 100 ballistic missiles."
"North Korea, the only country to have conducted a nuclear test in the 21st century, is proud of this.
"We need to remember the brazenness of North Korea's presence in North Korea," he added, adding, "North Korea can carry out another nuclear test at any time if it wants to, and if it does, it will be its seventh test."
Vice Minister Kang said, ``South Korea, like all other countries in the international community, hopes that North Korea will immediately cease its provocations, return to dialogue, and ensure that North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs are fully verifiable and irreversible.''
We request that you renounce it in an appropriate manner."