North Korea's weapons program creates new friction between world powers at UN
UN Security Council meeting turns into heated exchange after North Koreas latest missile test. US points fingers at Russia and China while South Korea raises questions about sanctions effectiveness
At a recent UN Security Council gathering Robert Wood‚ US deputy ambassador pointed fingers at Russia and China for enabling North Koreas weapons program: their support lets Pyongyang dodge any real push-back for its actions
North Koreas UN representative Kim Song made clear statements about his countrys plans.
The nuclear threat of United States has reached critical point; we will speed-up our nuclear force build-up
The meeting happened right after NK tested its long-range missile (which happened last fall) – an event that Moscow and Beijing blocked from getting official council criticism
Anna Evstigneeva‚ Russias deputy UN rep hit back at Western countries saying theyʼre stuck in cold-war thinking while Fu Cong from China pushed for more talking instead of just adding pressure. Both countries dont agree with how the Security Council handles the whole situation
South Koreas ambassador Joonkook Hwang brought up some real-world problems with current rules:
- Missing updates to banned items list
- Big gaps in controlling weapon parts trade
- Questions about NKs money sources for its programs
The situation shows growing problems with rules that started bout 18 yrs ago – they dont seem to stop NK from making new weapons‚ even though its supposed to be cut-off from world trade
