North Korea pledges to accelerate nuclear force buildup
5/11/2024 6:14
The United States on
Monday called out Russia and China at the United Nations
Security Council for "shamelessly protecting" and emboldening
North Korea to further violate U.N. sanctions as Pyongyang
pledged to accelerate building up its "nuclear force."
"Russia and China have shamelessly protected Pyongyang from
any reprisal, or even condemnation of its actions," said deputy
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood.
"Shielded from closer scrutiny of its sanctions-violating
activities by Moscow and Beijing, Pyongyang, unsurprisingly, has
been emboldened to continue advancing its unlawful ballistic
missile, nuclear, and WMD programs," he said, using the acronym
for weapons of mass destruction.
The 15-member council was meeting over Pyongyang's test launch
on Thursday of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Wood said
Russia and China had prevented the council from issuing a
statement of condemnation, a move that needs consensus.
North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Kim Song told the Security
Council that Pyongyang would accelerate the buildup of its
nuclear force to "counter any threat presented by hostile
nuclear weapons states."
"The nuclear threat of United States against DPRK has
already reached critical point in terms of its scale and
danger," Kim said. "Due to reckless moves of the United States,
the potential situation is approaching the brink of war." DPRK
is the acronym for the country's formal name, the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea.
North Korea has been under U.N. Security Council sanctions
since 2006, and the measures have been steadily strengthened
over the years with the aim of halting Pyongyang's development
of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
RUSSIA, CHINA PUSH BACK
Russia and China rejected the U.S remarks on Monday.
Deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva accused the
countries which called Monday's meeting - the U.S., France,
Japan, Malta, South Korea, Slovenia and Britain - of
"demonizing" North Korea to keep "afloat ineffective sanctions
measures" and justify "aggressive steps" by the U.S. and allies
in the region.
"We would once again like to note that the Security Council
must fundamentally revise its approaches in order to get the
situation out of this dangerous deadlock and not make it worse,"
she said, accusing Western states of being "stuck somewhere in
the Cold War era."
China's U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong said the Security Council
needs unity, not division, should be promoting dialogue, and
should not "profess itself just for the sake of doing so."
"The Security Council should play a constructive role on the
(Korean) Peninsula issue and take concrete measures to
de-escalate the situation and enhance mutual trust, rather than
simply imposing sanctions and pressure," he said.
South Korea's U.N. Ambassador Joonkook Hwang said Russia and
China have prevented the council's North Korean sanctions
committee from updating a list of prohibited items that is aimed
at curbing North Korea's weapons of mass destruction program.
"This launch once again raises a fundamental question: How
can an impoverished pariah regime continue to develop such
diverse ballistic missile programs despite the rigorous Security
Council sanctions regime?" he said.
"The answer is that there must be large loopholes enabling
the DPRK's access to the equipment, materials, and technology
necessary to advance its WMD programs," Hwang said.
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