US Accuses China and Russia of Blocking UN Action on North Korea

US Accuses China and Russia of Blocking UN Action on North Korea

(RightWing.org) – The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK/North) is considered to be the “most isolated and secretive country in the world,” earning it the nickname Hermit Kingdom. Its president, Kim Jong-un, frequently orders his military to fire off missiles that can threaten commercial air and maritime traffic. The country has been the subject of numerous sanctions by the United Nations (UN), but recent efforts to enforce those prior orders are being hindered by two countries, according to the United States.

Ideological Siblings

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation have both grown out of the seeds of Communism, though Moscow shed some of that terminology after the breakup of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Nonetheless, the two countries seem to be becoming more closely aligned on several issues that are causing a rift with Western nations.

On March 20, United States Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield delivered remarks to the Security Council stating that the country “condemns in the strongest possible terms the DPRK’s” ballistic missile launches of March 15 and 18. The country’s tests of the various military hardware came as a response to what Kim views as the provocative joint military exercises involving the navies of America, Japan, South Korea, and others in operation Sea Dragon 23.

Thomas-Greenfield specifically named China and Russia as the two countries that are working to defend the DPRK in deed, if not in words. The most recent attempt by the United States to get a resolution passed through the Security Council reaffirming the body’s commitment to sanctions against the DPRK in May 2022 was vetoed by the two nations.

Xi and Putin Meet

However, it is not just the events going on in and around the Korean Peninsula that Beijing and Moscow are showing a united front about. President Xi Jinping of China just spent three days in Moscow speaking with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin where they expressed their friendship with one another and a future of cooperation between the two countries.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) affiliated news outlet Global Times declared it to be a “successful” visit by Xi and pointed to the meeting as a starting point to “rebuild the power balance between major countries that has been seriously damaged by the U.S. in recent years.” The Kremlin-controlled newspaper Tass quoted spokesman Dmitry Peskov who stressed the importance of the meetings themselves and not the “unfriendly and deeply hostile” reactions from the West. In fact, they report that the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev said he was “pleased that most Westerners were furious” about the meetings.

Copyright 2023, RightWing.org