South's UN envoy slams Russian, Chinese narratives

Diplomacy

Published: 29 Mar. 2023, 16:35

South's UN envoy slams Russian, Chinese narratives

Hwang Joon-kook, ambassador of South Korea to the United Nations, speaks to delegates during a meeting of the UN Security Council after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years, at UN headquarters in New York on Oct. 5, 2022. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

The narrative pushed forward at the United Nations by Russia and China on North Korea’s provocations is complete nonsense, said Hwang Joon-kook, South Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations.

“The argument that Pyongyang’s military provocations are a response to joint military exercises between Seoul and Washington does not work when you look at the fact that North Korea conducted a nuclear test during South Korea’s sunshine policy,” said Hwang while speaking to reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul on Wednesday.

Addressing another narrative often put forward by Chinese and Russian officials at the UN, Hwang said there was no genuine nuclear moratorium by the North that supposedly went “unheeded” by the United States and South Korea.

“Had there really been a moratorium, North Korea should have frozen its nuclear weapons development from 2018,” Hwang said. “But we didn’t see that happening, and the demolition of Punggye-ri nuclear test site's tunnel was a show.”

Hwang, a veteran diplomat with years of experiences in negotiations regarding North Korea, including participation in negotiations between the United States and North Korea in Geneva in 1994 and a visit to the North's Yongbyon nuclear complex in 2009, was appointed as the head of the Korean mission to the United Nations last June.

He takes the helm at the UN mission at a challenging time for the multilateral institution, whose ability to tackle global crises like the conflict in Ukraine and the North Korean nuclear issue is increasingly questioned as Russia and China continue to exercise their veto power, leaving the body without consensus.

On North Korea, the UN Security Council has been unable to produce a sanctions resolution despite the regime’s record level of provocations last year with over 90 ballistic missiles launched, due to the Russian and Chinese vetoes.

“We are in a narrative war, one that we should not lose,” Hwang said.

Winning Korea a non-permanent seat on the Security Council will be one of the goals of his team in the coming months, with election held in June.

Ensuring that the human rights violations of North Korea stay on as an official agenda of the UN Security Council will be another.

There are some 60 official agenda items tabled for regular discussion at the council, of which two concern North Korea — the North’s nuclear program and its human rights situation.

The council meeting on the North Korean human rights situation had been held annually from 2014 to 2017, but none have been convened since 2018.

“It’s a combination of factors, such as Chinese actions, U.S. policies during the Trump administration, and also the rather passive stance that the South Korean government took on the issue,” Hwang said, alluding to the liberal Moon Jae-in government’s North Korea policy, which prioritized dialogue and engagement.

For three years from 2019, the Moon government abstained from co-sponsoring UN resolutions condemning North Korea’s human rights violations, putting a stop to a 10-year streak.

South Korea returned to co-sponsoring UN resolutions on North Korean human rights violations last year when it co-sponsored a resolution proposed by the European Union at the meeting of the Third Committee of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly.

Hwang stressed that the human rights violations of the North and its weapons programs are “two faces of a same coin.”

“They are the most important factors sustaining the regime and its unique system,” he said.

North Korea conducted six nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017, with many experts warning that the country has completed technical preparations for a seventh test.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]