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China and Russia are accused by the United States of supporting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by protecting Pyongyang from efforts to tighten sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapon programs.
The launch of a missile by North Korea on Thursday morning occurred in the midst of a UN Security Council discussion on the rising threats Pyongyang poses.
The US ambassador to the UN claimed that by protecting Pyongyang from sanctions, Russia and China were supporting the regime.
US Lashes at North Korea in UN
According to Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Two members of this council have gone out of their way to defend the DPRK's repeated provocations and resist every effort to update the sanctions regime. She urged the UN representatives to maintain their unity despite recent conflicts. However, the envoy of China accused the US and its partners of conducting military drills in the area. He says they've made the confrontation much harsher.
Eleven nations, including the US and Japan, issued a joint statement strongly denouncing the launches after the summit. They claimed that the North had threatened the international community and violated numerous Security Council resolutions, as per NHK World Japan.
After testing a ballistic missile on Tuesday that flew over Japan for the first time in five years and triggering a warning for citizens there to seek cover, the 15-member council on North Korea met on Wednesday. A public council meeting was opposed by China and Russia because they believed it would not help to defuse the crisis.
The Security Council must act constructively instead of relying exclusively on harsh language or pressure, according to Geng Shuang, China's deputy UN ambassador. China and Russia publicly divided the UN Security Council for the first time since it began punishing Pyongyang in 2006 when they blocked a US-led effort to impose additional UN sanctions on North Korea over its repeated ballistic missile tests in May.
The Security Council was informed by Russia's deputy UN ambassador, Anna Evstigneeva, that introducing fresh sanctions against DPRK is a dead end and brings zero results. We are certain that the UN and Security Council tools need to be utilized to facilitate the inter-Korean dialogue and multilateral negotiations rather than obstruct them, the official added.
China, Russia Against UN Sanctions on North Korea
The Security Council has long prohibited North Korea from conducting nuclear testing and ballistic missile launches and has therefore tightened sanctions. China and Russia, two countries with veto power, have recently proposed UN sanctions against North Korea be loosened for humanitarian reasons and to draw Pyongyang back to stalled international negotiations intended to persuade Kim to denuclearize.
Joint military drills between the United States and South Korea were held responsible by China and Russia for inciting North Korea. Thomas-Greenfield disagreed with the comments, claiming that "these two pursuits are not equivalent, according to NDTV.
Tokyo ordered citizens to seek cover after North Korea performed its longest-ever weapons test on Tuesday, during which a nuclear-capable ballistic missile soared over Japan. Early on Tuesday, the government issued a warning advising citizens in Japan's northeastern prefecture of Aomori and its northernmost main island of Hokkaido to remain indoors.
According to the White House, US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida confirmed that they would continue to closely coordinate their short- and long-term responses on a bilateral, trilateral, and international level.
North Korea fired missiles last week in what appeared to be a protest against joint naval exercises involving the US and South Korea. North Korea has conducted a record number of missile tests under the Kim Jong-un leadership as it increases the size of its arsenal, ZeeNews reported.
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