TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -The Mexican government announced on Thursday that the North Korean ambassador to Mexico had been listed as persona non grata and had to exit the country.
The government said it had given Kim Hyong-gil 72 hours to leave Mexico in order to express its “absolute rejection” of North Korea’s recent nuclear activity, describing it as a grave threat to the region and the world.
An official at the Mexican Foreign Ministry said, however, that President Enrique Pena Nieto’s government was not breaking diplomatic ties with North Korea.
The move followed a tide of condemnations of North Korea for repeated missile launches in recent weeks, which peaked with a nuclear test on Sunday.
On Sunday, North Korea said it had successfully test-fired a miniature hydrogen bomb that could be loaded on a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The developments come amid high tensions over the North Korean missile and nuclear programs. South Korea, the US, and Japan have been worried by the North’s weapons programs, which Pyongyang has been defiantly advancing as countermeasures to their animosity.
Earlier, North Korea had fired a Hwasong-12 missile — reportedly capable of carrying a nuclear payload — that traveled nearly 2,700 kilometers into the Pacific, including over Japan.
The violation of Japanese airspace sparked angry reactions from Japan and the US, as well as calls for restraint by other countries, including Russia and China. The launch also prompted a United Nations Security Council condemnation.
Source:Press TV