(United Nations) The United States on Monday condemned the Security Council’s “forced” silence and “dangerous” inaction after North Korea’s missile launch, accusing Russia and China of using Pyongyang as a shield.
“In the face of unprecedented missile launches last year, the two permanent members forced us to remain silent despite North Korea’s repeated transgressions,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, referring to China and Russia’s vetoes against a new resolution last May. Sanctions against Pyongyang.
“On this important matter, silence leads to inaction,” he added at an emergency meeting of the council after North Korea launched a new missile in recent days.
“The lack of action by the Council is shameful, it’s dangerous,” but this “failure” will “encourage” North Korea to be “not afraid of consequences,” she insisted, “not collective, it’s specific.”
“The reality is that they are protecting North Korea from the consequences of these tests […] put Asia and the whole world at risk,” he said, adding that thanks to sanctions voted by the council in 2017, Pyongyang had refrained from major provocations for nearly five years.
“If the two member states continue to prevent this council from using its mandate, we can expect North Korea to continue developing and testing these weapons,” the ambassador added, noting that the US would still propose adopting the council’s report. We condemn this action by North Korea.
In a joint statement, ten members of the council, including the United States, France or Japan and South Korea, condemned the new firings.
“We call on all UN members to join us in condemning North Korea’s reckless behavior. We invite member states as well,” they said.
If we remain silent for fear of further provocations, it will encourage those who break the rules to write the rules of the game as they wish,” said Japanese Ambassador Ishikane Kimihiro.
“We have to face things. The current escalation is dangerous. The question is very simple: can this council agree to North Korea becoming a nuclear state?”, French Nicolas de Riviere added.
The last glimpses of Security Council unity date back to 2017. Under the administration of Republican Donald Trump, the United States has unanimously passed three Security Council resolutions imposing three rounds of tough economic sanctions on Pyongyang after its missile and nuclear tests.
Russia and China have pointed to US-South Korea joint military exercises. “The United States and its allies have a special responsibility in this situation,” declared Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyansky, who felt that “multiplying meetings to criticize North Korea is not conducive to resolving the situation.”
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