China And Russia Veto Proposed New UN Sanctions Against North Korea, Ambassador Zhang: Current Situation Due To Failed US Policy

North Korea's Hwasong-17 ICBM missile test. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - China and Russia on Thursday vetoed a US-led initiative to impose more UN sanctions on North Korea over its recent ballistic missile launch.

The move makes the UN Security Council the first time it has "split" over punishments against North Korea since 2006. The remaining 13 council members all voted in favor of a draft US resolution proposing a ban on tobacco and oil exports to North Korea.

The vote comes a day after North Korea fired three missiles, including one it considers its largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), following US President Joe Biden's trip to Asia.

It was the latest in a series of ballistic missile launches since earlier this year, which were banned by the Security Council.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield described the vote as a "disappointing day" for the council.

"The world is facing real and present danger from the DPRK (North Korea)," he told the council.

"The control and silence of the council has not eliminated or even reduced the threat. If anything, the DPRK has dared," he continued.

Thomas-Greenfield said Washington had assessed that North Korea had conducted six ICBM launches this year and was "actively preparing to conduct nuclear tests."

Over the past 16 years, the Security Council has steadily and unanimously increased sanctions to cut funding for Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. The council last tightened sanctions against Pyongyang in 2017.

Since then China and Russia have been pushing for an easing of sanctions on humanitarian grounds. While they have delayed some action behind closed doors on North Korea's Security Council sanctions committee, the vote on a resolution on Thursday was the first time they have publicly violated unanimity.

"The imposition of new sanctions against the DPRK (North Korea) is a road to a dead end," Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council.

"We have stressed the ineffectiveness and inhumanity to further strengthen the pressure of sanctions against Pyongyang," he said.

Meanwhile, China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said additional sanctions against North Korea would not help, it would only lead to more "negative effects and an escalation of confrontation."

"The situation on the Peninsula has developed into what it is today mainly thanks to failed US policies and failure to uphold the results of the previous dialogue," Ambassador Zhang told the council.

China has urged the United States to take action, including lifting some unilateral sanctions, to persuade Pyongyang to resume talks that have been stalled since 2019, after three failed summits between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and then-US leader Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, the UN General Assembly will now discuss North Korea in the next two weeks under new rules that require the 193-member body to meet whenever a veto is granted in the Security Council by one of the five permanent members, Russia, China, United States, France. and English.