US to confront Russia at UN over North Korean weapons
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[June 28, 2024]
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States will confront Russia at the
United Nations Security Council on Friday over violating a North Korea
arms embargo, and will push for China's view on growing ties between
Moscow and Pyongyang, said deputy U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood.
The meeting of the 15-member council comes after Russian President
Vladimir Putin traveled to Pyongyang last week to sign a pact with North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un in which they agreed to provide military
assistance if either faces armed aggression.
"This should be of great concern to the entire global community," Wood
told Reuters ahead of the meeting, accusing Russia of "in essence siding
with a rogue state to violate countless U.N. Security Council
resolutions."
"This is unprecedented, and we need to call it out for what it is," he
said. "We also want to see what China has to say about this growing
military cooperation between DPRK and Russia. They cannot view this as a
positive development."
China reacted guardedly last week. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said that the summit was a bilateral exchange between Russia and
North Korea, but did not elaborate.
Formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK),
North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 for its nuclear and
ballistic missile programs, and those measures have been strengthened
over the years - with Russia's support.
But over the past year the United States has repeatedly accused North
Korea of sending weapons to Russia to use in its war against Ukraine,
which it invaded in February 2022. Both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied
the accusations.
'TRAINING GROUND'
U.N. sanctions monitors told a Security Council committee, in a report
seen by Reuters in April, that the debris from a missile that landed in
the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Jan. 2 was from a North Korean
Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile.
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A general view shows the inside of the U.N. headquarters, on the day
members of the United Nations Security Council vote on a Gaza
resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of
Ramadan leading to a permanent sustainable ceasefire, and the
immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, in New York
City, U.S., March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
The panel of U.N. sanctions monitors was disbanded at the end of
April after Russia vetoed its renewal. U.N. Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres said last week that Russia must abide by U.N.
sanctions on North Korea.
"Russia is dead-set on breaking up the sanctions regime and China
has not done much to restrain Moscow," said Richard Gowan, U.N.
director at the International Crisis Group.
He said Friday's council meeting "looks more like a push by the U.S.
to paint Russia as the villain" rather than a chance for the body to
get the sanctions regime back on track.
Wood accused Russia of firing dozens of North Korean missiles at
Ukraine, describing the war as a "training ground" for Pyongyang.
Ukrainian state prosecutors said in May they had examined debris
from 21 of about 50 North Korean missiles launched by Russia between
December and February.
Last week U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield
accused Russia of firing "a total of four possible North
Korean-supplied ballistic missiles toward Ukraine – two on June 15
and two more on June 16."
For the past several years the U.N. Security Council has been
divided over how to deal with North Korea. Russia and China say more
sanctions will not help and want such measures to be eased. They
proposed some sanctions be lifted in December 2019 but have never
put their draft resolution to a vote.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols)
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