US at odds with China, Russia over sanctions
NEW YORK: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned members of the United Nations Security Council yesterday they must ‘‘set the example’’ by enforcing sanctions on North Korea as China and Russia suggested the council consider easing them.
China and Russia said the council should reward Pyongyang for the ‘‘positive developments’’ this year with US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un having met in June and Kim pledging to work toward denuclearisation.
Pompeo chaired a meeting of the 15member council on the sidelines of the annual General Assembly after meeting his North Korean counterpart, Ri Yongho, on Thursday. Pompeo plans to travel to Pyongyang next month.
‘‘Enforcement of Security Council sanctions must continue vigorously and without fail until we realise the fully, final, verified denuclearisation,’’ Pompeo said. ‘‘The members of the council must set the example on that effort.’’
The Chinese government’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, noted there were provisions in Security Council resolutions for the body to modify sanctions if North Korea complied.
He said that ‘‘given the positive developments’’, China believed the council ‘‘needs to consider invoking in due course this provision to encourage the DPRK and other relevant parties to move denuclearisation further ahead.’’
However, US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan said later the council resolutions on North Korea did not provide for any exceptions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov backed his Chinese colleague, saying ‘‘any negotiation is a twoway street. Steps by the DPRK towards gradual disarmament should be followed by the easing of sanctions.’’
He was also critical of US attempts to tighten UN sanctions in recent months.
‘‘Further increase of sanctions goes beyond cutting off financing of banned missile and nuclear programmes, and is in fact a threat to North Korean citizens and would bring extreme socioeconomic and humanitarian suffering,’’ Lavrov said.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom, speaking at the same meeting, agreed the council should recognise that ‘‘recent progress has shown that is possible to defuse tensions through dialogue and cooperation.’’