The US and allies have clashed with Russia and China over North Korea’s failed launch of a military spy satellite in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.
The confrontation was the latest over the North’s escalating nuclear, ballistic missile and military programs, which US deputy ambassador Robert Wood warned are threatening international peace and security.
The failed launch “not only disrupted maritime and air traffic in the region, but it also caused alarm for its neighbours in Japan and the Republic of Korea,” he said.
Pyongyang is threatening another launch soon.
The Security Council imposed sanctions after North Korea’s first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and has tightened them over the years in a total of 10 resolutions seeking to rein in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and cut off funding.
China and Russia vetoed a US-sponsored resolution in May 2022 that would have imposed new sanctions, including on petroleum exports, over a spate of intercontinental ballistic missile launches. Since then, they have blocked any council action including press statements.
UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the council the last time North Korea conducted a similar satellite launch to Wednesday’s failed attempt was in 2016 and it was condemned by the Security Council.
But North Korea’s neighbour and ally China and Russia, which has drawn closer to Pyongyang since the war in Ukraine, blamed the West and especially the United States for the current tensions.
China’s deputy UN ambassador Geng Shuang accused the United States of failing to respond to North Korea’s attempts at dialogue over the years and instead resorting to sanctions and pressure on Pyongyang.
Geng also pointed to the recent US-South Korea Washington Declaration, including plans to send strategic nuclear submarines to the peninsula.
He told the council that blaming one party “will only exacerbate conflicts, provocations and inject new uncertainties into the already tense situation on the peninsula.”
He urged the council to adopt a resolution circulated by China and Russia in November 2021 that would end a host of sanctions on the North, saying this would be a starting point “to promote de-escalation, mutual trust and unity” among the 15 members.
Russia’s deputy ambassador Anna Evstigneeva echoed those views.
Russia is against “the dead end and inhumane policy of increasing sanctions pressure,” Evstigneeva said.
Wood, the US envoy, countered that the Washington Declaration was a response to North Korea’s destabilising nuclear and ballistic missile activities.
“It’s hard to imagine we would ease sanctions” as called for in the China-Russia draft resolution and reward Pyongyang while it continues to violate Security Council resolutions, he said.
Wood stressed that US-South Korean military exercises are lawful efforts to defend against Pyongyang’s escalating activities that are allowing the country to advance its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs – and to “continue to choose ammunition over nutrition” for its people.
Australian Associated Press