The United States condemns in the strongest terms North Korea’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile and short-range ballistic missile launches, said Ambassador Robert Wood, U.S. Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs at the United Nations.
For the fifth time this year, North Korea has launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, in direct violation of multiple Security Council resolutions. This is in addition to the 26 other ballistic missiles the DPRK launched this year alone, noted Ambassador Wood:
“We have used every word to describe the DPRK’s continued threats to international peace and security. Flagrant. Unacceptable. Reckless. Egregious. ... Let me be extremely clear: the United States and our allies are working to protect ourselves from the very nuclear weapons delivery systems the DPRK is testing and has repeatedly stated are made for attacking us.”
“We are grateful that most of this [Security] Council has condemned [North Korea’s] mounting threat to international peace and security. Most of this Council is committed to upholding the resolutions we adopted,” said Ambassador Wood.
“Now, it is on Russia and China to join us. To act as if their credibility as responsible permanent members depends on it. Not only would we be sending a message to the DPRK, and any proliferator, but we have seen firsthand the benefits of coming together to hold the DPRK accountable,” he said.
It has become clear that North Korea remains able to advance its Weapons of Mass Destruction program due to its extensive efforts to evade sanctions.
Until North Korea abandons its WMD program and instead engages in meaningful negotiations, “we will continue to call out” its sanctions violations, affirmed Ambassador Wood:
“We are here because the DPRK must understand that the only viable path forward is through diplomacy and our continued commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula; and it cannot do that while this Council stays silent.”
“It is critical that the international community makes crystal clear that this escalatory behavior has consequences,” said Ambassador Wood. “We urge all Council members to join us” in holding North Korea “to account, once and for all.”
