China and Russia's reluctance to toughen U.N. Sanctions on North Korea is “the biggest challenge” facing efforts to eliminate the North's nuclear arsenal, a top South Korean official said Thursday, as the North remains ready to conduct its first nuclear test in five years.
China and Russia, which both have close ties with North Korea and are locked in confrontations with the United States, already vetoed a U.S.-led attempt to slap fresh sanctions on North Korea over its missile tests this year. That raises worries North Korea would escape punishment even if it performs a bigger provocation like a nuclear test explosion, which is banned by U.N. Resolutions.
“Even if North Korea conducts an additional nuclear test, there is a possibility no additional sanctions will be adopted at the U.N. Security Council because of the U.S.-China strategic rivalry and U.S.-Russia tension over the Ukraine war,” South Korea's vice defense minister, Shin Beomchul, told The Associated Press during an interview. “I think that is the biggest challenge to (efforts to resolve) the North Korean nuclear problem and an international anti-proliferation regime.”
