Russia and China block new UN sanctions on 5 North Koreans

[soryang]

By EDITH M. LEDERER AP 2 hrs ago

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia and China blocked the U.N. Security Council on Thursday from imposing sanctions on five North Korean officials in response to Pyongyang’s recent ballistic missile tests, a decision criticized by the United States which sought to impose penalties over their roles in the country’s missile program.

At an emergency council meeting on the North’s four ballistic missile launches in the last two weeks, the United States called on the 15 council members to approve a brief press statement recalling that such launches violate council resolutions and strongly urging Pyongyang to comply with its council obligations “and to engage in dialogue towards denuclearization.”

Diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because the council meeting was closed, said China, a neighbor and ally of North Korea, opposed any statement.

Before the meeting started, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield read a statement to reporters from eight countries calling North Korea’s “unlawful behavior … a threat to international peace and security.”

https://apnews.com/article/business-linda-thomas-greenfield-russia-europe-north-korea-b297eb51abe2bc57c314cab65dda82df

Anyone who has looked at the construction of UN Resolution should know the US application for sanctions is inconsistent with the previous UN resolution addressing this topic. It’s a non-starter. I wrote last March:

It’s unlikely the US will get a binding UN resolution to go beyond UN res 2397 which authorized sanctions for long range ballistic missiles and nuclear tests by North Korea. The general proscription against North Korean ballistic missile launches in UN resolution 2397, was not entirely supported by an enforcement mechanism. In other words, there is wiggle room over shorter ranged missiles for North Korea. Evidently the Security Council compromised on the resolution’s language in 2017. So a new resolution would be required. They probably won’t get it from the Security Council because both Russia and China disagree with the US approach to the negotiating process. Resolution 2397 in paragraph 26 refers to the Joint Statement of Sep 9, 2005, in the fourth round of the Six Party Talks, which reads:

5) The six parties agreed to take coordinated steps to implement the aforementioned consensus in a phased manner in line with the principle of “commitment for commitment, action for action.”

Since Singapore the US abandoned this “phased” approach emphasizing reciprocity and adopted the so called “one bundle” approach, aka “the Libyan Approach,” and “the all or nothing approach.” Only Japan of the six parties agrees with this US approach.

Will the US get more sanctions against North Korea from the UN? March 29, 2021;
https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2021/03/will-us-get-more-sanctions-against.html

Nothing has changed.