JAKARTA - The United States called on China and Russia on Wednesday to oppose further UN action on North Korea, warning that the Security Council 'cannot stand still'" as Pyongyang prepares for its seventh nuclear test.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, referring to two council members who she said argued that restraint by the council would encourage North Korea "to stop escalating and come to the negotiating table instead."
"Obviously, silence and restraint don't work," Thomas-Greenfield told a council meeting convened by the United States on North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch.
"It's time to stop giving tacit permissions and start taking action."
North Korea has been subject to UN sanctions since 2006 over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Meanwhile, the United States wants the 15-member Security Council to vote during May on a US-drafted resolution to impose further sanctions on Pyongyang.
"We cannot wait until (North Korea) undertakes other provocative, illegal, and dangerous actions, such as a nuclear test," said Thomas-Greenfield.
Washington thinks North Korea could be ready to carry out such a test as early as this month.
However, veto-wielding powers China and Russia oppose further UN sanctions and have long pushed for the council to relax such measures against North Korea on humanitarian grounds. The United States says now is not the time.
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Meanwhile, China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said on Wednesday that the US-drafted resolution "is not the right way to deal with the current situation."
"Unfortunately, the US has turned a blind eye to reasonable proposals from China and other relevant council members, and remains lured into the superstition of the magical power of sanctions," Zhang told the council.
Separately, Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva said a resolution drafted by Russia and China to ease North Korea sanctions "remains on the table" and "could encourage the parties to step up negotiating efforts."
The UN Security Council last tightened sanctions on Pyongyang in 2017. However, North Korea has been successfully working to evade some UN sanctions, according to the UN's independent sanctions monitor.
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