UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and allies South Korea and Japan clashed with China and Russia on Friday over North Korea’s latest satellite and missile launches. Ballistic missile launch The threat of using nuclear weapons has increased tensions in Northeast Asia.
The story takes place when the United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency public meeting following an attack by North Korea. Military reconnaissance satellite launch failure Another launch using ballistic missile technology in violation of UN sanctions took place on May 27.
Since the beginning of 2022, North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, has fired more than 100 missiles using the banned technology as it advances its nuclear weapons program. In response, the United States and its allies have been conducting a growing number of military drills.
UN Under-Secretary-General Khaled Kiari told the Security Council meeting that while sovereign states have the right to benefit from peaceful space activities, North Korea is expressly prohibited from launching ballistic missile technology and its continued violations undermine global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation treaties.
“We remain deeply concerned by the escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” Chiari said. “Practical steps are needed to ease tensions, reverse the dangerous situation and create space for diplomacy to be explored.”
North Korea’s UN Ambassador Kim Song said the country’s satellite launch Successful in November last year Under international law and the Outer Space Treaty, reconnaissance satellites are a “legitimate and universal right of sovereign states,” he said, stressing that they are necessary not only to strengthen self-defense capabilities but also to protect sovereignty.
Kim told the Security Council that the US’s “large-scale deployment of strategic assets and aggressive war drills” on the Korean peninsula and in the region had broken all records and upset the military balance.
He said this has made the Korean Peninsula “the most vulnerable region in the world, rife with the risk of war breaking out,” and claimed that joint military exercises since the beginning of the year are a “U.S.-led rehearsal for nuclear war.”
The North Korean ambassador said the Security Council should not waste time debating the legitimate rights of sovereign nations but should focus its attention on bringing it to an immediate end. Killing of civilians in Gaza“It continues unabated under the auspices of the United States.”
South Korea’s UN Ambassador Hwang Jun-kuk said it should be South Korea, not North Korea, that asserts the right to self-defense.
He said North Korea’s nuclear policy and rhetoric have “become increasingly aggressive and hostile” and that North Korea no longer sees its nuclear weapons as a deterrent against the United States but “as a means to attack our country.”
He quoted Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, as saying two weeks ago that the sole purpose of tactical nuclear weapons was to “teach Seoul a lesson.”
US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood called on the Security Council to condemn North Korea’s launch and hold it accountable for violating UN sanctions.
“But the Security Council’s two largest members, China and Russia, continue to obstruct the council’s united efforts to oppose North Korea’s actions, threatening the security of us all,” he said.
Wood also accused North Korea of illegally transferring dozens of ballistic missiles and more than 11,000 containers. Military supplies to Russia The aim is to support the war against Ukraine and “prolong the suffering of the Ukrainian people.”
He rejected claims by North Korea and its Security Council backers that the missile launches were in retaliation for U.S.-led military exercises as “baseless” and disingenuous.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Anna Yevstigneva countered that “one of the main causes of rising tensions in the region is and will continue to be the increased military activity by the United States and its allies.”
U.S.-led military exercises against North Korea and numerous hostile acts with military elements “have provoked a response from North Korea and forced it to take action to strengthen its defenses,” she said.
“The unstable situation on the Korean Peninsula benefits Washington, which continues to confidently and cautiously pursue the path of confrontation rather than dialogue,” Yevstigneva argued.
She also denied allegations that Russia was conducting illegal military and technological cooperation with North Korea, calling them “completely baseless.”
China’s UN Ambassador Fu Song said the situation on the Korean Peninsula was “extremely tense with intensifying hostility and confrontation,” and urged all parties to exercise restraint and avoid actions and statements that could increase tensions.
He warned that large-scale joint military exercises planned for August on the Korean peninsula to “train for nuclear war scenarios” would only increase tensions.
Wood countered that “the United States is in no way a threat to North Korea,” and stressed that offers from the United States over the past few years to “reach out” and negotiate with North Korea without preconditions have been “met with a clenched fist.”
