UN Security Council’s reaction to the rocket launch by North Korea is “proportionate and quite moderate,” Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said here on Monday after the UNSC meeting that approved a statement on behalf of the Security Council President.
“This decision of the Security Council (statement) introduces no new sanctions whatsoever against North Korea,” the official said. “It only activates the sanctions regime that had been imposed by Resolution 1718 of the UN Security Council,” the diplomat added. Now the Council’s sanctions committee will take up the issue of adaptation of earlier made decisions to the new realities, he noted.
Resolution 1718 was passed after a nuclear test by Pyongyang in October 2006. It forbids North Korea from launching ballistic missiles or carrying out further nuclear tests. It also bans the import or export of arms and related goods by Pyongyang.
Russia hopes that UNSC members “will be able to reach agreement on these issues.” The Committee “has been given time until April 24 this year,” Churkin said. “In this case the UNSC will not return any more to this issue and will hope that this signal will be heard, first of all in Pyongyang and by other parties of the six-sided talks and the international community members,” he stressed.
The Russian diplomat also expressed the hope that “it will be possible to continue the diplomatic and political work aimed at denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and establishment of peace and stability in the Northeast Asia region.”
According to a UN press release, the Security Council on Monday spoke out against the recent rocket launch by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), stressing the importance of preserving peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in North-East Asia.
