Guterres will attend opening ceremony of Winter Olympics

United Nations Jan 17 (IANS) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that he will attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

"I am also encouraged by the decision of North Korea to participate in the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea. I will be there myself in the opening ceremony " the UN chief said at an informal meeting of the UN General Assembly to hear his briefing about the priorities for 2018 Xinhua reported.

"We need to build on these small signs of hope and expand diplomatic efforts to achieve the peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula in the context of regional security " he said.

"I welcome the reopening of inter-Korean communication channels especially military-to-military. This is critical to lower the risk of miscalculation or misunderstanding and to reduce tensions " the Secretary-General added.

The UN chief noted that one of his priorities for 2018 is to achieve the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula "without sleepwalking our way into calamity."

He also said that he welcomed "the firm decisions the Security Council has taken in response to nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by North Korea."

"They must be fully implemented " he said.

--IANS
ahm/