After imposing the first sanctions in 2006 after North Korea carried out its first atomic test, the Security Council progressively toughened punishments until 2017, when it approved the most recent package, which included strong limitations on access to oil products and vetoes to exports from various sectors.
Russia and China vetoed this Thursday in the UN Security Council a resolution proposed by the United States to tighten international sanctions against North Korea in response to yourlatest missile tests.
The text was supported by 13 of the 15 members of the Security Council, but it didn’t work out because Russia and China They have veto power and they can thus block the measurement.
The initiative of USA sought to reinforce the punishments that weigh on the North Korean government, which so far this year has carried out 17 rounds of missile tests, the most recent this week, in defiance of the resolutions of the Security Council that forbid it.
The US announced two months ago that would seek to toughen sanctions and, since then, has tried unsuccessfully to convince China and Russia to do so. This, arguing that the United Nations has to respond clearly to the North Korean provocations.
“North Korea has interpreted the silence of this Council as a green light to act with impunity and raise tension on the peninsula”, stressed the US ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
However, both the Chinese and Russian delegations they insisted once again that sanctions are not the right answer. In addition, they blamed the United States for the current situation.
North Korea abandoned its weapons tests for a time, but has resumed them before the lack of progress in the dialogue with the United States, that it did not achieve concrete results and that now remains frozen.
Russian and Chinese interventions at the UN
Russia and China blame the US for that blockade, considering that he did not make any concessions and did not reciprocate the gestures of the regime of Kim Jong Un.
The Chinese ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun, he stressed that imposing more sanctions would not only not solve the problem, but would further complicate the chances of moving forward.
The authority also added that this could punish the population at a difficult time. due to the covid-19 outbreak in the country.
His Russian counterpart, Vasili Nebenzia, assured that the “hard line” of the US government “has completely destroyed positive progress” from previous years.
“Increasing the pressure with sanctions on Pyongyang is not only useless, but it is extremely dangerous from a humanitarian point of view,” Nebenzia pointed out.
Although they have always maintained different positions on North Korea, the powers in the Security Council had managed for years agree. The above, to respond to the nuclear and missile program of the Kim and they had avoided cross vetoes.
The resolution proposed today by the US sought to add new restrictions to pressure the North Korean government. According to that country, at the same time facilitate the provision of humanitarian aid to the population.
Although outside of Russia and China the rest of the countries supported the initiative, Several Member States tried until the last moment to postpone the vote. This, to try to achieve some kind of compromise and avoid such a clear fracture in the Council, according to diplomatic sources.