UNITED NATIONS (Reuters Report) - On Monday, the US urged North Korea to defend its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and focus on the needs of its own people, while Russia and China blamed sanctions for exacerbating the country's humanitarian crisis.
As part of its chairmanship of the 15-member United Nations
Security Council in February, Russia put sanctions in the limelight. According
to diplomats, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia was unable to chair the
meeting because he tested positive for COVID-19.
"We call on the DPRK to show a commitment to the
well-being of its own people by respecting human rights, defunding its unlawful
WMD (weapons of mass destruction) and ballistic missiles programme, and
prioritising the needs of its own people – the vulnerable North Koreans,"
said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States' Ambassador to the United
Nations.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is North Korea's
official name. Since 2006, it has been sanctioned by the United Nations for its
nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
In November, Russia and China resurrected a 2019 drive to
lift UN sanctions on North Korea in an effort to ameliorate the humanitarian
situation, as they put it. As a result of the lack of support and involvement
among council members, China and Russia have decided not to put the proposal to
a vote.
"If the council were to think of regular Koreans rather
than geopolitics, this idea would be supported," Dmitry Polyanskiy, Deputy
Russian U.N. Ambassador, told the council. "We are certain that a
substantial dosage of humanization is required in the Security Council
sanctions mechanism."
According to an excerpt of a confidential United Nations report reviewed by Reuters, North Korea continued to expand its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes last year, and cyberattacks on cryptocurrency exchanges were a major source of cash for Pyongyang.
On Friday evening, independent sanctions monitors delivered
their yearly report to the United Nations Security Council's North Korea sanctions
committee.
Both Russia and China used Monday's Security Council meeting to denounce unilateral measures without naming individuals. "They have been hurling them about left, right, and centre in a frenzy, so much so that they appear to be addicted," China's U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun said of such countries.
Thomas-Greenfield expressed worry over attempts to
"criticise and delegitimize" unilateral sanctions as illegal, saying
the US unequivocally rejects this viewpoint.
Source: Reuters