At UN, US Accuses China, Russia of Protecting North Korea From Reprisal

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United Nations members called a meeting after North Korea fired a test launch of a intercontinental nuclear-capable missile last week.

The United States accused China and Russia of shielding North Korea from criticism during a United Nations Security Council meeting called Nov. 4 to address Pyongyang’s test launch of a nuclear-capable long-range missile last week.

“Russia and China have shamelessly protected Pyongyang from any reprisal, or even condemnation of its actions,” said deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood, accusing the U.N. members of effectively emboldening the totalitarian state’s nuclear ambitions.

“Shielded from closer scrutiny of its sanctions-violating activities by Moscow and Beijing, Pyongyang, unsurprisingly, has been emboldened to continue advancing its unlawful ballistic missile, nuclear, and WMD [weapons of mass destruction] programs,” Wood said.

The remarks were made days after 8,000 of some 10,000 North Korean troops joined Russian forces in the western Kursk region.

The provocative action was North Korea’s first test launch of a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in just over a year, notching a record flight height. These nuclear-capable missiles have a range of at least 3,500 miles, capable of striking any target in the world.

Pyongyang on Oct. 31 fired the missile nearly vertically, landing it in the sea off its east coast, between Japan and Russia. It reached an altitude of about 4,350 miles, which on a typical, flatter trajectory would have flown some 9,300 miles.

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement that this was a “flagrant violation” of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

“While U.S. INDOPACOM has assessed it did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, or territory, or to our allies, this launch needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with their South Korean counterparts in Washington the same day, and told reporters at a post-meeting briefing that both the United States and South Korea have brought up the issue with China, which holds significant influence over North Korea.

Blinken said the United States has had a “robust conversation” with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, as China is a member of the U.N. Security Council and is expected by the wider international community to demand that North Korea and Russia cease provocative military actions that are in violation of U.N. resolutions.

South Korea Minister of Defense Kim Yong-hyun said that China “continues to be silent” on the matter but predicted it would no longer be able to do so if tensions heighten and begin to affect China’s interests. China also has partnerships with North Korea and Russia.

The officials said the deepening Russia-North Korea partnership was a concern, and Russia appeared to be training North Korean soldiers in artillery, drone use, and frontline-use infantry operations, destabilizing the Korean peninsula.

Both China and Russia are members of the United Nations and sit as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council alongside the United States, United Kingdom, and France, tasked with the responsibility for maintaining peace.

While the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union have condemned Russia’s war against Ukraine, China has stayed silent on the matter and has helped the Russian military evade international sanctions, according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Russian and Chinese ambassadors at the United Nations blamed the United States and international sanctions for creating tensions with North Korea—which is continuing to violate the basic human rights of its own citizens.

Deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva accused the countries that called Monday’s meeting—the United States, France, Japan, Malta, South Korea, Slovenia, and Britain—of “demonizing” North Korea to keep “afloat ineffective sanctions measures” and justify “aggressive steps” by the United States and its democratic allies in the region.

China’s U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong similarly said the council’s role was to de-escalate “rather than simply imposing sanctions and pressure.”

North Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Kim Song blamed the United States and said “the potential situation is approaching the brink of war.”

Sanctions and Weapons of Mass Destruction

South Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Joonkook Hwang said Russia and China have prevented the council’s North Korea sanctions committee from updating a list of prohibited items that is aimed at curbing North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction program.

“This launch once again raises a fundamental question: How can an impoverished pariah regime continue to develop such diverse ballistic missile programs despite the rigorous Security Council sanctions regime?” he said.

“The answer is that there must be large loopholes enabling the DPRK’s access to the equipment, materials, and technology necessary to advance its WMD programs,” Hwang said.

U.N. officials condemned the ICBM test.

“The DPRK’s launch of yet another ICBM is of serious concern and represents a grave threat to regional stability,” said U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres urged the member states to increase diplomatic engagement, saying it remained the “only pathway to sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Reuters contributed to this report.