Russia, China enabling N. Korea's provocative actions for own gains: State Dept. official

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (Yonhap) -- Russia and China are not only refusing to hold North Korea accountable for its military provocations but are allowing Pyongyang to continue its bad behavior as it supports their own interests, a senior U.S. state department official argued Thursday.

Russia and China, both veto power-wielding permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), derailed 10 U.S.-proposed UNSC meetings to impose additional sanctions on North Korea or condemn its missile provocations this year.

"Using its role as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, Russia has gone to great lengths to shield the DPRK from accountability for increasingly provocative behavior," Eliot Kang, assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation," said in a seminar hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

Kang noted Pyongyang has fired over 60 ballistic missiles this year, "violating a series of U.N. Security council resolutions (UNSCR) that prohibit such launches."

"Yet Russia, in concert with the PRC, have repeatedly blocked the U.N. from taking steps to address DPRK missile activities, including vetoing a draft resolution that would have strengthened the current U.N. sanctions regime," he added, referring to China by its official name, the People's Republic of China.

Kang argued Russia especially has been working to undermine the global nonproliferation regime, amid its ongoing war against Ukraine and its increasingly intensifying competition with the U.S.

"Now Russia's effort to undermine multilateral nonproliferation efforts is not limited to specific treaties," said Kang.

"Where Russia once supported the adoption of U.N. Security Council resolutions that impose tough sanctions and other restrictive measures on proliferators like Iran, today, Russia is not only doing little to implement and enforce these obligations, it's actually actively violating them by acquiring prohibited items itself," he added.

Kang noted that Russia was actively violating UNSC sanctions when it came to North Korea, saying, "Russia is in the process of acquiring prohibited munition from the DPRK to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine."

"Additionally, Russia does little domestically to enforce relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions on the DPRK," he added. "For example, Russia continues to allow numerous DPRK laborers to earn income in its jurisdiction in defiance of UNSCR 2397."

bdk@yna.co.kr
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