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North Korea has grabbed command of the United Nations' premier nuclear disarmament conference. Due to the post being rotated among the member nations, the country will chair the forum for the following three weeks. This comes just a week after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un conducted a series of missile tests in response to US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to South Korea. Pyongyang has been sanctioned by the United Nations for conducting ballistic missile and nuclear tests.

The Conference on Disarmament, which takes place three times a year in Geneva, is the forum for which they are assuming the presidency. It was conceived at a period when nuclear stockpiles were at their peak, with the goal of averting the possibility of nuclear war. Since 1996, however, the conference has failed to produce any policies that have aided towards disarmament.

The US has warned that North Korea's chairmanship of this group raises concerns about its effectiveness. "It certainly does call that into question when you have a dictatorship like the DPRK in a top leadership position, a regime that has done as much as any other government throughout the world to  to erode the non-proliferation norm," a State Department spokesperson said.

"We remain deeply worried about the DPRK's reckless actions, which continue to dangerously undermine the basic value of the Conference on Disarmament," many western powers warned in a joint statement made during the inaugural session on Thursday. The Australian ambassador read the statement on behalf of the coalition of countries.

North Korea responded by stating that it has taken note of the criticisms but maintained its assertion of self-defense.