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North Korea
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North Korea seeks Southeast Asian support over ‘grave situation’ with US

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho warned the situation on the Korean Peninsula was ‘reaching the brink of war’ because of Washington’s actions

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Ri Yong-ho, Minister for Foreign Affairs for North Korea, addresses the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York . Photo: AFP
Agence France-Presse

North Korea has appealed to Southeast Asian countries for support in its row with the United States to prevent what it warned could be a “nuclear holocaust”, according to a letter.

In the letter to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (Asean) secretary general, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho warned the situation on the Korean Peninsula was “reaching the brink of war” because of Washington’s actions.

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He urged the Asean chief to inform the 10-nation organisation’s foreign ministers “about the grave situation” on the peninsula “and give them a proper proposal”, while criticising at length US-South Korean military exercises.

Tensions have soared in the region in recent weeks in the wake of a series of North Korean missile tests and tough rhetoric from Washington on the isolated nation’s rogue weapons programme.

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Undated picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency shows the combined fire demonstration of the services of the Korean People's Army in celebration of its 85th founding anniversary at the airport of eastern front.Photo: AFP
Undated picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency shows the combined fire demonstration of the services of the Korean People's Army in celebration of its 85th founding anniversary at the airport of eastern front.Photo: AFP
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