The United States will push for more U.N. sanctions on North Korea if it carries out a seventh nuclear test, despite opposition from China and Russia, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Tuesday.
China and Russia vetoed a U.N.-backed move to impose more U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its renewed ballistic missile launches, publicly splitting the U.N. Security CouncilU.N. Security Council for the first time since it started punishing Pyongyang in 2006.
Thomas-Greenfield has warned that North Korea is actively preparing to conduct a nuclear test. If that happens, the United States will push for more U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang, she said on Tuesday.
She told reporters that we need to enforce the sanctions that we have. We will certainly push for more sanctions as we attempted in this last resolution. Over the past 16 years, the Security Council has stepped up sanctions to cut off funding for Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. In 2017 it tightened sanctions on Pyongyang.
Since then, China and Russia have been pushing for an easing of sanctions on humanitarian grounds.