UN: China and Russia block US request to sanction five North Koreans

China and Russia on Thursday blocked at the UN a US request from last week to sanction five North Koreans, one living in Russia, the other four on Chinese soil, in response to recent missile strikes by North Korea.

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The 15 members of the Security Council had until 8:00 p.m. GMT to decide on the American request. China’s blockage came two hours before a new closed-door Security Council meeting on North Korea, requested by Washington. It was followed by opposition also from Russia to the US proposal, diplomats told AFP.

Asked about the opposition of Beijing and Moscow before the Council meeting – the second in 11 days – the American ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield denounced the granting of a “blank check” to Pyongyang.

“We have these sanctions for a reason. And the fact that a member state opposes the imposition of sanctions (…) gives, in my opinion, a blank check to North Korea”, she said, considering it “important”. to send “a unified message” to this country to stop its tests.

Under UN rules, the Sino-Russian blockade lasts six months. At the end of the term, it is possible for a member of the Security Council to extend it for three months, then for an additional day before the proposal disappears from the UN table for good.

With Beijing, Moscow has long been on a line of not stepping up pressure on Pyongyang, even asking for relief from international sanctions for humanitarian purposes.

On January 12, Washington sanctioned the five North Koreans in question, then asked the UN Sanctions Committee in charge of North Korea to extend its individual measures to these five people.

Any decision by a Sanctions Committee must obtain the unanimity of the 15 members of the Security Council, all of whom are members of it.

Declaration refused by Beijing

Identified by the Treasury, the five North Korean nationals sanctioned by Washington (assets freeze, travel ban) are Choe Myong Hyon, based in Russia, and Sim Kwang Sok, Kim Song Hun, Kang Chol Hak and Pyon Kwang Chol, who live in China.

These five people are accused by Washington of being linked to Pyongyang’s weapons of mass destruction program.

The Chinese diplomatic mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Monday, China reopened its border with North Korea for the transport of goods after a two-year interruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We need more time to study the data,” Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy told AFP.

Last week, failing to achieve consensus for a unanimous Security Council statement at its first meeting, the United States, Albania, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom, joined by the Japan, had jointly called on North Korea “to refrain from any further destabilizing action” after a hypersonic missile was fired.

North Korea had responded to this injunction with new shots.

This Thursday, the same countries, joined by Brazil and the United Arab Emirates, two new non-permanent members of the Security Council, also issued a joint statement urging the members of this body to display a position “united to condemn” Pyongyang.

According to diplomats, the United States proposed to its partners to adopt a short declaration on the occasion of their new meeting, but China, according to the same sources, refused.

This text of only three sentences, obtained by AFP, was limited to recalling that the last North Korean firings “using ballistic missile technology are in violation of Security Council resolutions”. He also called “firmly on North Korea to fulfill its obligations imposed by the Security Council and to open a dialogue towards denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula.

Earlier on Thursday, Pyongyang threatened a possible resumption of its long-range nuclear and ballistic missile tests, during a meeting of the political bureau under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, prepared for “a long-term confrontation” with the United States.

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