The United States on Friday accused China and Russia of blocking a unified UN Security Council response to North Korea\u2019s missile launches, including Thursday\u2019s attempt by Pyongyang to put a spy satellite in space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During an emergency Security Council meeting, 13 of the 15 members \u2014 all but Moscow and Beijing \u2014 condemned Pyongyang\u2019s second spy satellite test in three months, which used ballistic missile technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis should be an issue that unifies us. … But since the beginning of 2022, this Council has failed to live up to its commitments because of China and Russia\u2019s obstructionism,\u201d said US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe DPRK\u2019s nuclear threat is growing, and Russia and China are not living up to their responsibility to maintain international peace and security,\u201d she added, using the initials for the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea, the North\u2019s official name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas-Greenfield also denounced the presence of Russian and Chinese officials at a North Korean military parade last month that showed off new drones and nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are celebrating \u2014 celebrating \u2014 violations of Security Council resolutions and continuing to block Council action,\u201d Thomas-Greenfield said of Moscow and Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May 2022, China and Russia vetoed a resolution imposing new sanctions on Pyongyang, and no resolution or declaration by the Security Council on North Korea has been adopted since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last unified Security Council action on North Korea took place in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese and Russian representatives said Washington was to blame for North Korea\u2019s aggressive stance, pointing to ongoing US military drills with South Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Korea has long maintained its nuclear program is pursued in self-defense, and said the same applies to its satellite program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur launch of the reconnaissance satellite is an exercise of the legitimate right to self defense to deter ever-increasing hostile military acts of the United States,\u201d said North Korean Ambassador Kim Song, adding that his country has never recognized UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas-Greenfield rejected that position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all know the truth: The DPRK puts its paranoia and selfish interests over the dire needs of the North Korean people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe DPRK\u2019s war machine is fueled by repression and cruelty,\u201d Thomas-Greenfield added. \u201cIt\u2019s shameful, and it\u2019s a grave threat to global peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States on Friday accused China and Russia of blocking a unified UN Security Council response to North Korea\u2019s missile launches, including Thursday\u2019s attempt by Pyongyang to put a spy satellite in space. During an emergency Security Council meeting, 13 of the 15 members \u2014 all but Moscow and Beijing \u2014 condemned Pyongyang\u2019s second […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[7332,810],"class_list":["post-82521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-world","tag-north-korea","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82521"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82524,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82521\/revisions\/82524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}