North, U.S., Russia trade barbs at UN Security Council

North Korea

Published: 28 Nov. 2023, 16:06

North, U.S., Russia trade barbs at UN Security Council

North Korean Ambassador to the UN Kim Song speaks during the UN Security Council meeting in New York on Monday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Delegates of Pyongyang and Washington engaged in a war of words on Monday at the first UN Security Council meeting following North Korea's spy satellite launch.

"The relation between the DPRK and the United States is not merely a relation between unfriendly countries," said Kim Song, the North Korean delegate to the United Nations, during the meeting in New York. "[They are relations] between belligerent [countries] which are at war in status, technically, legally, practically for seven decades."

The DPRK is the acronym of the full name of North Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Kim spoke for the second time after all council members at the meeting had spoken, taking the floor after U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

After Kim defended the North's position, calling the satellite launch "a legitimate right of a sovereign state," Thomas-Greenfield condemned North Korea for ignoring the calls for "meaningful diplomacy" from the United States.

She said North Korea violated the UN Security Council resolutions by launching its spy satellite on Nov. 21 using "ballistic missile technology," adding that it wasn't "even the latest in a long line of such flagrant violations."

"No weapons have ever been fired by the United States toward the DPRK," said Thomas-Greenfield. "We're working with our allies to help them in the protection of their sovereignty against your actions, which are based on paranoia about a possible attack by the United States."

As other members of the council, including South Korean Ambassador to the UN Hwang Joon-kook, raised concerns over suspected arms deals between Russia and North Korea, the Russian delegate in the meeting instead pointed to U.S.-ROK-Japan military exercises as a cause for concern on North Korea's part.

"Also of concern are contradictory signals from the U.S. allies in Northeast Asia — Tokyo and Seoul — about so-called strengthening cooperation with Washington in the nuclear sphere, which could absolutely be interpreted as allowing for the possibility of deploying on their territory American nuclear weapons," she said.

South Korea's intelligence had reportedly confirmed technology transfers from Russia to North Korea for its satellite launch, while officials in the U.S. confirmed at least 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions transferred from the North to Russia.

After the North's satellite launch, the South Korean government announced that it would partially suspend a 2018 inter-Korean military agreement and resume surveillance and reconnaissance activities along the military demarcation line, which had been restricted under the agreement to reduce the risk of accidental clashes along the border.

North Korea has frequently played the blame game at the UN Security Council since a U.S.-drafted sanctions resolution on the North was vetoed by Russia and China last May.

"Colleagues, how many more times must we gather for briefings like this before Russia and China join us in demanding the DPRK abandon its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs?" asked Thomas-Greenfield during the meeting on Monday.

No media stakeout — usually joined by Thomas-Greenfield, Hwang, and others at the council to reiterate their positions — was held on Monday.

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