United Nations, United States, May 12, 2022 (AFP) — The United States and China failed to agree on how to de-escalate tensions with North Korea at the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday. While Washington calls for more sanctions against Pyongyang, Beijing wants them reduced.
The council’s emergency meeting came after concerns that North Korea would resume nuclear tests in the coming weeks.
“It’s time to stop the idea of implied consent and take action,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Ambassador to the UN. “We need to move quickly towards tightening without thinking about easing sanctions.”
Linda rejected the draft resolution aimed at easing the sanctions imposed in 2017 by China and Russia (which, like the United States, is a member of the Council with veto power). Instead, the ambassador said they were nearing the end of separate US talks. text updating the sanctions.
“We cannot wait until North Korea takes more provocative, illegal and dangerous actions such as nuclear tests. We need to raise our voices,” the ambassador said.
China’s ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun, described the possibility of an escalation as worrying and called for restraint. He added that tightening sanctions in an environment of insecurity would “not be constructive”. “What China wants is to avoid a new nuclear test,” he told AFP after the meeting.
“Talk is better than coercive measures. We’ve seen a lot of coercive measures around the world, in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Have you seen good results? All we saw was human suffering,” Zhang said.
Russian Ambassador Anna Yevstigneeva also defended her proposed decision with China and called for the resumption of dialogue.
Pyongyang has significantly increased missile launches, including the first long-range intercontinental ballistic missile launch since 2017, with more than a dozen weapons tests since January.
Today’s Security Council meeting comes one day after South Korea’s new president Yoon Suk-yeol took office, who promised to be tougher on Pyongyang.
source: Noticias
