Jeffrey DeLorentis, senior adviser for special political affairs in the U.S. mission to the United Nations, announces a joint statement condemning North Korea, in which 11 countries participated on the 28th (local time). Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Jo Hyun Jo is standing to the right of Senior Advisor DeLorentis. U.S. Mission to the United Nations website
For the first time this year, South Korea took part in the international community’s joint statement condemning North Korea’s ballistic missile launch. The joint statement, in which 11 countries participated, contained the expression “complete, verifiable and irreversible (CVID)” in which North Korea reacts sensitively. It is pointed out that South Korea, which has not participated in the joint statement condemning North Korea three times this year alone for the reason of ‘maintaining momentum for resuming dialogue,’ suddenly changed its position, conscious of the critical public opinion at home and abroad.
The UN Security Council held a closed meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on the 28th (local time) on the 28th (local time) to discuss ways to respond to North Korea’s missile launch on the 27th of last month. It is the fifth time this year that the Security Council has held a closed-door meeting on North Korea’s missile launch.
Immediately following the meeting, UN representatives from 11 countries, including South Korea, the United States, and Japan, condemned North Korea, saying, “North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile is a violation of various Security Council resolutions.” issued a statement. South Korean ambassador to the UN, Cho Hyun, stood immediately to the left of Jeffrey DeLorentis, senior adviser for special political affairs at the US Mission to the United Nations, who read the statement.
This is the first time that South Korea has participated in the Security Council-level condemnation of North Korea held four times this year alone. The international community, including the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom, issued a joint statement condemning North Korea’s provocations three times, including this day, on January 10, 20, and on the 4 of last month, in response to North Korea’s missile launch eight times since the new year.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not participate in the joint statement, saying, “We have considered various factors, such as the need to maintain momentum for the stable management of the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the resumption of dialogue.” In particular, this statement also includes a call for CVID once morest North Korea, which the government has refrained from expressing because it is sensitive to North Korea.
The government mentioned ‘the seriousness of the situation’ for the sudden change of position. An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the 1st that the reason for participating in this statement was “comprehensively taking into account North Korea’s repeated missile launches and severity.” On January 30, the North Korean government announced that the Hwasong-12, an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which had a much longer flight range than this missile and was at the level of breaking a four-year moratorium (provisional suspension of nuclear tests and mid-range missile launches), was launched. It was omitted from the joint statement when the missile was launched, but this time the situation has become more serious.
The statement also includes a statement that “the voices criticizing North Korea’s actions are growing, and this time Australia, New Zealand and South Korea have joined.”
Analysts say that the government was conscious of the growing criticism from inside and outside the country of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and North Korea’s successive armed provocations. Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University, said, “Amid the international community being rapidly divided between authoritarian countries such as North Korea, China, Russia and the United States, the United States expressed disappointment at South Korea’s participation in sanctions once morest Russia. He must have been conscious of the public opinion linked to the failure of the Moon Jae-in administration’s North Korea policy.”
Reporter Song Young-chan 0full@hankyung.com
ⓒ Hankyung.com, unauthorized reprinting and redistribution prohibited
