“We are here because the DPRK must understand that the only viable path forward is through diplomacy,” he added, referring to North Korea by its official name.
While Russia repeatedly criticised the US by name at the council on Tuesday, China took a more indirect approach, although the object of its blame was unambiguous.
“We also note the moves by a certain country to provide extended deterrents to his ally and its dispatch of strategic weapons to the peninsula,” said Geng Shuang, China’s deputy ambassador to the UN.
“If this vicious cycle of aggressive assertion of power cannot be broken, I’m afraid the peninsula could see further escalations.”
Why North Korea is upping the ante through missile tests ahead of US election
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Hours before the UN meeting, the three allies revealed that the monitoring system, aimed at detecting projectiles launched by North Korea, was live.
“Following recent tests that verified the full operational capability of the DPRK missile-warning data-sharing mechanism, the mechanism is now active,” the Pentagon said, adding it would detect and assess North Korean missiles in real time.
The three allies also announced a multi-year military training programme to “regularise trilateral exercises and execute them more systematically and efficiently”.
Security Council members noted Pyongyang has launched 31 missiles this year, including five ICBMs and three space launches, which are steadily gaining in range and capability.
The latest launch was believed to be a Hwasong-18 missile propelled by solid fuel, which is more stable, faster to launch and more difficult to detect than past rockets.
North Korea’s long-range rocket reportedly travelled just over 600 miles (965 kilometres) before splashing down in the sea northwest of Tokyo.
The sharpest exchange during Tuesday’s council hearing involved Russia and the US, with each side requesting extra time to attack the other.
China and North Korea pledge stronger cooperation in rare talks
China and North Korea pledge stronger cooperation in rare talks
“We have been witnessing the American military machine being actively deployed in the region since the middle of the past year,” said Anna Evstigneeva, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN.
“The Freedom Shield and Ssang Yong exercises led by Washington were nothing but a show of force,” she added.
“What cannot be explained is the inclusion of the United States among the so-called victims of North Korean provocations, even though its borders are thousands of kilometres away.”
Countered Wood: “I will just remind our Russian colleague, it is the DPRK that is under Security Council sanctions, not the United States.”
Meanwhile, a Chinese readout of Monday’s meeting between Wang and Pak said the two exchanged views on issues of “common concern” without elaborating, while Pyongyang’s state media, KCNA, said it was characterised by a friendly atmosphere.
Their meeting took place a few hours after the ICBM launch, and neither account touched explicitly on it.
North Korea’s thwarted smugglers lay bare abusable UN sanctions regime
North Korea’s thwarted smugglers lay bare abusable UN sanctions regime
“China cannot be happy about the circumstances,” said Scott Snyder, a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations and author of The US-South Korea Alliance: Why It May Fail and Why It Must Not.
“But it should have plenty of opportunities to demonstrate the extent (and limits) of its influence on North Korea on the 75th anniversary of China-North Korean ties” next year.
Officially, North Korea is China’s only ally, bound by a 1961 treaty in which they vow to take all necessary measures, including military assistance, to come to each other’s aid in the event of an attack or an attempted attack by a third country.
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The council on Tuesday also convened several hearings on the Middle East.
“The United States and the other hostile forces have persistently committed acts of military threat against the DPRK throughout this year,” Kim Song, North Korea’s ambassador to the UN, told the council on Tuesday.
“The ICBM launch conducted by DPRK this time is a warning countermeasure in the face of this prevailing situation.”
Security Council resolutions have banned all North Korea’s ballistic missile activities, although Pyongyang counters that they are part of its sovereign right to self-defence.