The United States urges North Korea to focus on the needs and welfare of its
people, not on its ballistic missile program.
Meanwhile, Russia and China blamed the US-led sanctions for worsening the
humanitarian situation in the country led by Kim Jong-un.
Russia put sanctions under the spotlight on the UN Security Council as part
of its presidency of the 15-member council during February.
However, Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia was
unable to chair the meeting because he tested positive for COVID-19.
"We call on the DPRK to demonstrate a commitment to the well-being of its
own people by respecting human rights, eliminating unlawful WMD (weapons of
mass destruction) and ballistic missile programs, and prioritizing the needs
of its own people," said US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda
Thomas-Greenfield. , as quoted by Reuters, Tuesday (8/2/2022).
DPRK is an abbreviation for North Korea's official name; Democratic People's
Republic of Korea. The country has been under UN sanctions since 2006 over
its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
In November, Russia and China revived a 2019 push to ease UN sanctions on
North Korea in what they described as an attempt to improve the humanitarian
situation.
The move has received little support or engagement among council members, so
China and Russia are yet to vote.
"If the council is thinking about ordinary Koreans and not just geopolitics,
then this proposal needs support," Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry
Polyanskiy told the council.
"We firmly believe that the Security Council's sanctions apparatus requires
a strong dose of humanization."
North Korea's humanitarian situation "continues to deteriorate", according
to excerpts from a classified UN report seen on Saturday last week by
Reuters.
The report said the conditions were probably due to Pyongyang's self-imposed
COVID-19-related blockade.
Russia and China also used a council meeting on Monday to condemn the
unilateral sanctions, without naming names.
China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said of such countries: "They have thrown it
left, right and center in a frenzy, so much so that they seem to be
addicted."
Thomas-Greenfield said he was concerned about attempts to criticize and
delegitimize unilateral sanctions as unlawful and that the United States
firmly rejected that position.
