Earlier today Russia vetoed renewing the mandate for a UN panel of experts monitoring North Korea. Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia criticized the UN experts, stating, “Its work is increasingly being reduced to playing into the hands of Western approaches, reprinting biased information and analyzing newspaper headlines and poor quality photos.”
In response to the veto, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood stated, “Moscow has undermined the prospect of the peaceful, diplomatic resolution of one of the world’s most dangerous nuclear proliferation issues.”
South Korean Ambassador to the UN Joonkook Hwang questioned Russia’s veto, stating, “This is almost comparable to destroying a CCTV to avoid being caught red-handed.”
And French Ambassador to the UN Nicolas de Rivière stated on X, “France deeply regrets the Russian veto which put a stop to the renewal of the mandate of the 1718 Sanctions Committee’s panel of experts. This veto purposely ends their work of reporting on North Korea’s arms deliveries to Russia, in violation of the Security Council resolutions.”
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said the veto was evidence of cooperation between Russia and North Korea, and alleged Russia was in violation of sanctions, stating:
Today, Russia was the only country to veto a draft UN Security Council resolution extending the mandate of the Panel of Experts of the 1718’s Sanctions Committee, which monitors sanctions, including arms embargo, against North Korea. This is actually a guilty plea. Moscow no longer hides its military cooperation with North Korea in obtaining arms and ammunition in violation of sanctions, as well as the use of North Korean weapons in the war against Ukraine. Today’s vote is yet another example of how Russia’s illegal presence in the UN Security Council jeopardises global security. We urge all peace-loving nations to strongly condemn Russia’s veto and rally behind Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression and the spread of terror and lawlessness around the world. This photo depicts a North Korean missile that hit Kharkiv at the beginning of this year. We must defeat Putin’s regime through resolute and collective action to ensure that such horrifying photos do not appear in other countries and parts of the world.
