Statement by Ambassador Archie Young, UK Deputy Permanent
Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on
North Korea.
"This Council is entrusted with the responsibility for the
maintenance of international peace and security.
Yet two years ago, Russia deliberately undermined that mandate by
vetoing the DPRK Panel of Experts, an act that has hollowed out
our collective ability to respond to the clear and growing threat
from the DPRK's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
That veto was not an isolated procedural decision.
It was a calculated move to obscure the DPRK's unlawful pursuit
of weapons of mass destruction and to conceal Russia's own
systematic erosion of the UN sanctions architecture, which, as
with all UN Member States, it is duty‑bound to uphold.
Since Russia's veto, the DPRK has carried out approximately 80
ballistic missile launches and expanded key facilities, funded by
an increasingly sophisticated cybercrime.
Without the panel, we have been deprived of crucial Security
Council resolution violation monitoring, analysis, and oversight.
In vetoing the panel, Russia also cleared a path to expand its
military relationship with the DPRK. Pyongyang has supplied more
than 11,000 troops to Russia's illegal war against Ukraine, along
with munitions and missiles.
In return, the DPRK has enjoyed Russia's patronage, provision of
critical goods through arms-for-oil exchanges, and gained
increased technical and military capabilities from its combat
experience.
Russia has also recklessly called DPRK's denuclearisation a
‘closed issue'.
We reaffirm our full commitment to non-proliferation
obligations.
At this year's NPT Review Conference, we are calling on all UN
members to encourage the DPRK to dismantle its nuclear and
ballistic missile programmes, to re-engage in meaningful
dialogue, and to return to full NPT compliance.
We urge Russia to recommit to our collective non-proliferation
obligations.
Mr President, as we have heard today, the DPRK continues to be
innovative in circumventing sanctions, utilising emerging AI
technology, advance maritime spoofing techniques, and
ship-to-ship transfers to transport coal and iron ore.
We must remain equally agile in our response, drawing upon the
breadth of our collective responsibilities and
capabilities.
We welcome ongoing Member State efforts to fill the monitoring
and implementation information gap, including through the
Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team reports.
We call on the DPRK to refrain from further provocations, to
engage meaningfully in dialogue, and to take concrete steps
towards complete denuclearisation and peace on the Korean
peninsula.
And I call on Russia, and all Council Members with influence on
the DPRK, to allow this Council to reunite on this vital issue of
peace and international security and let us get back to work."
