MOSCOW, February 8 The UN resolution on easing sanctions against the DPRK is rather illusory, but Russia will continue to counteract the attempts of Western countries to «tighten the sanctions stranglehold» on Pyongyang, Petr Ilyichev, director of the Department of International Organizations of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in an interview.
«In the context of the rejection in Western capitals of any ideas to ease pressure on North Korea against the background of Pyongyang's missile launches, the chances for the approval of a political and humanitarian resolution in the UN Security Council — let's be objective — are rather illusory. This does not mean that we will sit idly by. We We publicly declare that our initiative is still, as diplomats say, «on the table», we are actively forming world public opinion against the sanctions «club», which hits ordinary citizens and is useless in achieving peace,» Ilyichev said.
He stressed that the adoption of a new resolution would be required in order to partially or completely lift the sanctions of the UN Security Council against the DPRK.
“We are constantly talking with our Chinese partners about the need to start such a process. And we are not only talking, but we are proposing concrete solutions. For example, we drafted a special resolution designed to relieve the people of North Korea from the excessive sanctions burden and at the same time stimulate negotiation efforts. Unfortunately, the United States and their allies do not want to work with this. Even humanitarian arguments are ignored,» Ilyichev said.
According to him, Western countries «do not want to admit the obvious thing: the sanctions have not justified themselves, increased the suffering of ordinary people and only pushed back the possibility of resolving the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula.»
«Instead of stopping, thinking and listening to sensible voices, Western representatives are striving to tighten the sanctions stranglehold even tighter. Naturally, we oppose this. In particular, in May last year, together with our Chinese colleagues, we had to veto an American draft resolution aimed at tightening restrictions against the DPRK. In terms of their volume, they approached a total blockade,» Ilyichev recalled.
Last year, the DPRK tested ballistic missiles 38 times, in total about 70 missiles were launched. Pyongyang also tested cruise missiles three times, carried out artillery firing, air force exercises, testing systems for a space satellite, rocket engines.
At the sixth plenum of the WPK of the eighth convocation, Kim Jong-un announced the need to strengthen the country's nuclear forces, mass production of nuclear warheads, create a new system of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of an instant counterattack, and quickly complete the reconnaissance satellite project and launch vehicle for it. The DPRK leader said that the situation, when «South Korean puppets» have obviously become the enemy of North Korea, requires an increase in the number of nuclear warheads in the arsenal of the DPRK «exponentially», and stressed the importance and necessity of mass production of tactical nuclear weapons. In addition, in January last year, Kim Jong-un ordered, due to Washington's hostile policy, to review the confidence-building measures with the United States taken by Pyongyang «on its own initiative» and to study the resumption of «all temporarily suspended activities.»
Earlier in 2021, Russia and China submitted to the UN Security Council a draft resolution on the partial lifting of sanctions against the DPRK. According to the text of the draft resolution, which we managed to get acquainted with, the UN Security Council noted that the DPRK had not conducted nuclear tests since September 2017 and introduced a moratorium on such tests, as well as on launches of medium-range missiles and intercontinental missiles since 2018. The authors wrote about the plight of the economy and difficult living conditions in the DPRK in recent years. As noted in the document, the UN Security Council «will positively consider the possibility of adjusting sanctions against the DPRK» in the light of its compliance with the resolutions. It was proposed to lift the ban on North Korean workers working abroad, lift sanctions on inter-Korean rail and road cooperation projects, and lift a number of other restrictive measures.
This is not the first draft resolution by China and the Russian Federation proposing to ease sanctions against the DPRK. In 2019, Russia and China also prepared a joint draft resolution calling for the lifting of part of the sanctions against the DPRK, as well as the resumption of the Six-Party Talks. According to the text of that document, the Russian Federation and China also welcomed the continuation of the dialogue between the United States and the DPRK at all levels. However, no vote has been taken on this project so far. And in May 2022, Russia and China had to veto a U.S.-drafted Security Council resolution on tightening sanctions against the DPRK.
Six-party talks were held in Beijing from 2003 to 2009 by high-ranking diplomats from Russia, the United States, China, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan , which, due to bilateral contradictions, could not prevent the emergence of nuclear weapons in North Korea.
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