Fajarasia.co – China and Russia used their veto power to thwart a United States-led effort for the United Nations (UN) to re-impose a series of sanctions against North Korea over its latest ballistic launch.
China and Russia’s actions on Thursday exposed divisions in the UN Security Council for the first time since the Council began imposing sanctions on Pyongyang in 2006.
In contrast to China and Russia, the other 13 members of the Security Council said they supported the US-drafted resolution.
The draft resolution contains proposals to impose a ban on tobacco and oil exports to North Korea, the country of Kim Jong Ung, a heavy smoker.
The draft would also put Lazarus on the blacklist. The hacker group says the US has strong ties to North Korea.
The vote on the Security Council comes a day after North Korea fired three guided missiles, including what it believes to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) following US President Joe Biden’s visit to Asia.
The missile launches were the latest this year and a violation of a Security Council ban.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Council, “The imposition of new sanctions on North Korea leads to a stalemate.”
China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jung said additional sanctions against North Korea would not help the situation and would only increase the “negative effect and confrontation.”
In the past 16 years, the Security Council has unanimously unanimously increased sanctions to cut off Pyongyang’s ability to finance its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
The council last tightened sanctions against Pyongyang in 2017.
Since then, China and Russia have often pushed countries to relax sanctions for humanitarian reasons.
North Korea suspended talks after three meetings between Kim Jong Un and then-US president Donald Trump yielded no results.
China has urged the US to take steps, including lifting some unilateral sanctions, to get Pyongyang to return to talks.****
