The United States and its allies have clashed with China and Russia, accusing the pair of obstructing the UN Security Council from taking action against North Korea over its escalating ballistic missile launches.
The 15 members of the UN Security Council failed to agree on a joint statement Friday condemning the recent ballistic missile fire from North Korea. Instead, a number of countries – including France, the UK and the US – have separately condemned Pyongyang’s ongoing missile tests.
North Korea this week carried out a record number of missile launches, including an apparent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), bringing the total number of missile launches this year to more than 60.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said 13 of the 15 members of the Security Council had condemned North Korea’s escalating ballistic missile launches since the beginning of the year, but that Pyongyang was protected by two countries — China and Russia — although she did not name them. it is direct.
The two countries have “bent over themselves” to justify repeated violations of UN sanctions by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the US ambassador said, using North Korea’s official name.
“And in return they enabled the DPRK and made a mockery of this advice,” she added.
But China, North Korea’s closest ally, and Russia, whose relations with the West have seriously soured over the invasion of Ukraine, told the UN meeting that the US was to blame for continued tensions with North Korea.
China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun countered that the North Korean missile launches were directly related to the resumption of large-scale US-South Korean military exercises after a five-year hiatus, including air force exercises involving hundreds of warplanes from both countries.