Russian envoy slams US policy towards North Korea

US is putting spoke in the wheel of the inter-Korean dialogue, as it blocks the implementation of infrastructure projects on the Korean Peninsula, the Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said on Monday as he addressed a meeting of the Security Council on sanctions against Pyongyang.

"The so-called UN command that shelters itself behind the name of the organization - and please don’t be deceived by its title, because it’s actually a US-monitored military entity in the Korean demilitarized zone - has blocked the practical steps on the inter-Korean initiative to restart rail service operations," Nebenzya said.

He recalled that the resumption of railway services was one of the central agreements specified in a declaration after the inter-Korean summit.

"Cooperation in railway transportations includes the Khasan-Rajin trilateral project, which doesn’t fall under the [UN-imposed] sanctions," Nebenzya said. "It would make sense for you to facilitate inter-Korean dialogue and cooperation instead of putting a spoke in the wheel."

"Still Washington is ready to sacrifice the sprouts of good-neighborliness between the divided Korean people for its own selfish time-serving interests," he said. "Is the UN command in Korea an analogue of the Berlin Wall in the 21st century?"

Nebenzya said such actions on the part of the US could be assessed as an encroachment on its obligations stipulated in all the resolutions of the UN Security Council on a search for peaceful, political and diplomatic solutions to the existing situation.

"On the other hand, these steps perfectly tally the logic of the so-called policy of maximum pressure on Pyongyang," he said.

"The US is striving in a forceful and aggressive manner to suppress the UN Security Council in this area and one gets an impression at times the US Administration has developed a habit for mixing up the UN Security Council and Washington’s own National Security Council," Nebenzya said. "Unfortunately, today’s meeting didn’t become an exception from this rule."

Russia exerted no pressure on experts of the United Nations Security Council 1718 Sanctions Committee that oversees the sanctions measures imposed on North Korea, he stressed.

"They say that Russians are allegedly seeking to exert pressure on the expert team. We would like to put an end to such allegations once and for all," he stressed. "In fact, the thing is that the work of the group, which has become utterly politicized for the reasons beyond our control, is now a hostage to Washington’s vision. The group must be guided by the principle of objectivity and unbiasedness. But regrettably, the document it issued in the first reading did not met these standards."

That is why Russia and other committee members voiced certain remarks, which "were taken properly by the experts and later taken into account before submission to the Security Council," the Russian diplomat noted. "The committee’s rules and procedures envisage consultations with member states about its (the committee’s report - TASS) content. There is no malicious intent in the fact member states directly involved are not indifferent to the report, especially in what directly concerns them."

"Experts sent relevant inquiries to us. It is absolutely logical that the answers are to be reflected in their report. But in this case, everything was exactly the opposite," he said.

According to the Russian diplomat, Russia gave well-substantiated answers to the group’s questions, including to accusations of alleged violation of the anti-North Korean sanctions "poured in abundancy on Russia by the American permanent representative" at today’ UN Security Council meeting. "Our point of view was ignored, so, no wonder that we insisted that our position be reflected in this document," Nebenzya stressed. "It is not about pressure on independent experts, it is about observance of the rules and procedures of the UN Security Council 1718 Sanctions Committee."
Amendments to the report

John Degory, a public affairs officer of the US mission to the UN, told TASS on Thursday that Washington will convene an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Monday, September 17, due to its disappointment with Russia’s amendments to the midterm report on North Korea sanctions.

Earlier in the day, the press service of the Russian mission to the UN said that the amendments, put forward by the Russian side, have been introduced into the report by the Committee 1718 panel of experts on sanctions against Pyongyang. Those amendments have only increased the quality of the report, the mission said.

In December 2017, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution toughening sanctions against North Korea. The document further restricts supplies of crude oil and oil products and insists all countries expel North Korean labor migrant in a span of 24 months. The resolution envisages other restrictions that concern exports of industrial equipment, heavy machinery and transport vehicles to North Korea and imports of North Korean commodity. In 2017, the UN Security Council approved imposing three sets of restrictions on Pyongyang in response to its missile and nuclear tests.