South Africa has condemned the underground nuclear test in North Korea and has called on that country to abandon its nuclear programme, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Monday.
”The South African government is deeply concerned at the reported nuclear test by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” said foreign affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.
North Korea announced on Monday that it had detonated a nuclear weapon in an underground test.
Mamoepa said South Africa joined the international community in condemning the test.
”The South African government is fully convinced that nuclear weapons threaten the total annihilation of humanity and are therefore not a source of security and do not serve any deterrent purpose whatsoever,” said Mamoepa.
South Africa called on North Korea to ”fully and verifiably terminate any nuclear weapons programme, to return to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and to open all its nuclear facilities and materials to comprehensive IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] safeguards, inspections and surveillance”.
South Africa was urging a peaceful and early resolution of the nuclear issue through dialogue, Mamoepa said. — Sapa