(United Nations) The United States on Monday denounced the “forced” silence and the “dangerous” inaction of the Security Council after the missile launches by North Korea, accusing without naming them Russia and China of being used as a shield in Pyongyang.
“In the face of unprecedented launches last year, two permanent members forced us into silence despite repeated violations by North Korea,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, referring to vetoes of China and Russia last May against a resolution imposing new sanctions against Pyongyang.
“On this vital subject, silence leads to uselessness,” she added during an emergency meeting of the Council after new missile launches in recent days by North Korea.
“The Council’s lack of action is more than shameful, it is dangerous”, but this “failure” to act which “encourages” North Korea to launch these fires “without fear of consequences”, “is not collective , it is specific,” she insisted.
“The reality is that those protecting North Korea from the consequences of these tests […] put Asia and the whole world at risk,” she said, saying that thanks to the sanctions voted by the Council in 2017, Pyongyang had refrained from major provocations for almost five years.
“If two member states continue to prevent this Council from exercising its mandate, we can expect North Korea to defiantly continue to develop and test these weapons,” the ambassador added, noting that the United States United would still propose the adoption of a Council statement condemning these North Korean activities.
In a joint statement, ten members of the Council, including the United States, France or Japan, as well as South Korea condemned the new firings.
“We call on all UN member states to join us in condemning North Korea’s irresponsible behavior,” they said.
“If we remain silent for fear of further provocations, it will only encourage those who break the rules to write the rules of the game as they wish,” said Japanese Ambassador Ishikane Kimihiro.
“We have to look things in the face. The current escalation is dangerous. And the question is very simple: can this Council agree to North Korea becoming a nuclear state? “, added the French Nicolas de Rivière.
The last displays of Security Council unity date back to 2017. Under the administration of Republican Donald Trump, the United States had unanimously passed three Security Council resolutions imposing three rounds of heavy economic sanctions on Pyongyang after missile and nuclear tests.
Russia and China have pointed to joint US-South Korean military exercises. “The United States and its allies have a special responsibility in this situation”, declared the Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, considering that the multiplication of meetings to “criticize North Korea is not conducive to resolve the situation”.