China, Russia veto new UN sanctions on North Korea

Members of the United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution to tighten sanctions on North Korea Thursday at the UN headquarters in New York. [UN]

China and Russia on Thursday vetoed a U.S.-drafted UN Security Council resolution to strengthen sanctions on North Korea over a spate of missile launches this year, the first time that the five permanent members of the Council have been divided on the issue since they began punishing Pyongyang in 2006.

The resolution would have cut exports of crude oil to the North from 4 million barrels a year to 3 million barrels and slashed refined petroleum exports from 500,000 barrels to 375,000 barrels. It would have also banned the sale of all tobacco products.

The vote, held Thursday at the UN headquarters in New York, came in response to nearly two dozen missile launches by Pyongyang this year and amid speculation that a nuclear test is underway, all of which violate previous UN resolutions.

Pyongyang has launched 23 ballistic missiles this year alone, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

“For the first time in 15 years, a UN Security Council member has used a veto to stop the Council from fulfilling its responsibility to hold the DPRK accountable for its unlawful proliferation and tests,” U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a joint statement on behalf of Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.

“The vetoes today are dangerous. Those members have taken a stance that not only undermines the Security Council’s previous actions to which they’ve committed, but also undermines our collective security.”

DPRK is short for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

In a separate statement delivered solely on behalf of the United States, Thomas-Greenfield said she was “beyond disappointed” with the absence of unity, stressing that the “failure rests on China and Russia alone.”

China’s ambassador to the UN blamed the U.S. for failing to build on peace talks with North Korea held in the former Donald Trump administration, claiming that today’s rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula were “undeniably” caused by the “flip flop of the U.S. policies.”

“In the current situation, additional sanctions against the DPRK will not help resolve the problem,” said Chinese Ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun, “but only lead to more negative effects and escalation of confrontation. Additional sanctions will also have a greater humanitarian impact, especially against the backdrop of emerging Covid-19 in the DPRK.”

Zhang called for a “political solution” to the North Korean denuclearization issue.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said adding new sanctions on the North would be going down a “dead-end road,” adding that the world must use political and diplomatic tools to resolve the issue.

“Our Western colleagues are accustomed to blaming North Korean authorities,” said Nebenzia. “Yet they ignore the fact that Pyongyang’s repeated calls to the U.S. to stop its hostile activities, which would unlock dialogue opportunities, were never taken seriously, whereas U.S. colleagues only kept saying over and over again that more sanctions were needed.”

BYLEESUNG-EUN[lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]