China along with Russia ignored a US call on Friday (June 2) to condemn North Korea in United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for its attempt to launch a satellite. Both countries instead blamed Washington for raising tensions in the Korean Peninsula.
From the side of the US, a diplomat from its UN mission Robert Wood made the appeal at the meeting called by the US and the allies. The meeting was called specifically to discuss the North Korea issue.
War of words
“We call on all council members to uphold the credibility of the council, join us in condemning this unlawful behavior and urge the DPRK to not follow through on its stated plan to conduct another launch that will further pose a threat to international peace and security,” Wood said.
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DPRK are the initials of North Korea’s official name.
Geng Shuang, China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, told the meeting that North Korea had “legitimate security concerns”. Geng said that the Security Council should promote deescalation and not point fingers at any one party.
Geng and Russia’s permanent UN representative Anna Evstigneeva criticised the US for raising tensions in the Korean peninsula by holding joint military exercises with South Korea.
After Geng spoke, Wood took the floor again to note that “the representative the Chinese delegation did not at any point condemn this DPRK space launch.”
To this, Geng responded that there was a need for real dialogue that took North Korea’s concerns into account.
“The U.S. has been saying that door of diplomacy is open, but at the same time, they have been consistently doing military activities in the peninsula and surrounding areas,” he said.
Lana Nusseibeh, ambassador of current Security Council chair the United Arab Emirates, noted that North Korea had given some advance warning of the launch, but added that “such warnings neither legitimize, nor minimize, the illegality of the DPRK’s launch.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said earlier this week that any launch by North Korea using ballistic missile tech would breach Security Council resolutions.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called criticisms of the launch a “self-contradiction” as the U.S. and other countries have already launched “thousands of satellites.”
The North Korean attempt to launch a spy satellite had caused quite a flurry in the region. Air raid sirens in Seoul, capital of South Korea, blared and citizens were sent a text message by the authorities asking them to be ready for evacuation. Japan activated its missile alert system shortly after the launch and even said that the projectile would land around Okinawa region in the south.
(With inputs from agencies)
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