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.