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Debate over what to do with North Korea’s ballistic missiles Missiles fired over Japanese territory The already deeply divided U.N. Security Council was divided on Wednesday, with Russia and China insisting that U.S.-led military exercises in the region had provoked North Korea to act.
Despite warnings from the United States and its allies that the Security Council failed to reach consensus on North Korea’s record number of missile launches this year, Wednesday’s meeting ultimately failed to agree on next steps, emboldening North Korea and damaging the most powerful United Nations the authority of the authority. Body.
“This committee should take note that it is being tested and its credibility is threatened. The committee should act and take action to restore its credibility,” said Hiroshi Minami, Japan’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, who urged the committee. One of the committee’s unsuccessful attempts to restore its previously unified stance on North Korea’s launch.
North Korea’s missile flight on Tuesday was its longest-range weapons test ever, a nuclear-capable ballistic missile that soared over Japan with enough punch to reach the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam and beyond. It forced the Japanese government to issue an evacuation alert and stop trains.
The United Nations said it was one of North Korea’s unprecedented 39 ballistic missile launches so far this year, including eight in the last 10 days. Meanwhile, North Korea also appears to be on its way to a seventh nuclear test, the United Nations said.
Within hours of the council meeting, South Korea announced a North Korea fired new missiles, bringing this year’s total to 40.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is pushing for a full-fledged nuclear arsenal capable of threatening the U.S. homeland and the territories of U.S. allies, some experts say, in order to win concessions from those countries.
Tuesday’s launch was Kim’s first targeting of Japan since 2017. US-led military exercises In the Sea of Japan with allies Japan and South Korea. The exercise included a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
Russia’s deputy U.N. representative, Anna Evstigneeva, insisted to Council members that the “irresponsible” U.S.-led exercises and growing U.S. alliance with partners in the Asia-Pacific had prompted North Korea to act.
Geng Shuang, China’s deputy U.N. representative, described the incident as a confrontation between the U.S. and North Korea and urged Washington to take a more conciliatory approach.
Wednesday’s meeting ended with a vague call for more discussions on the matter. It is the latest example of a growing divide between Russia and China and the permanent members of the Security Council, the United States, Britain and France.
The division has paralyzed the Security Council on many key actions over issues such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s military assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region, and the U.S. response to it. This is because all five permanent members have the power to veto the actions of the council.
The Security Council imposed sanctions after North Korea’s first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and has tightened them over the years in an attempt to rein in and cut off funding for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
However, in May, China and Russia blocked a Security Council resolution that would tighten sanctions on missile launches, the first serious disagreement in the Security Council on sanctions against North Korea.
“The two permanent members of the Security Council make Kim Jong Un possible,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told Security Council members on Wednesday.
Thomas-Greenfield said past missile launches this year were apparently launched without any concurrent U.S. military exercises or any other explicit trigger, calling North Korea a “spontaneous escalation.”
“We will not tolerate any country blaming our defensive actions … which are somehow intrinsic to these threats,” she said. She added that “the United States will not stand idly by as North Korea directly threatens” the United States or its allies.
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