April 6, 2022, 10:43 p.m. • 5 minutes reading Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email this article With North Korea celebrating its most significant holiday next week, the United States is worried that Pyongyang “may be tempted to take another provocative step,” including a possible nuclear test. “We, in cooperation and coordination with our allies and partners, are ready to deal with whatever they undertake, and I want to emphasize that we obviously hope that they will refrain from further provocations,” said the US Special Envoy for the North. Korea, Sung Kim. . North Korea will celebrate the birth of its founder, Kim Il Sung, on April 15. Kim is the grandfather of the current dictator Kim Jong Un. The isolated country has not conducted a nuclear test since September 2017, its sixth in history. As Russia’s war in Ukraine escalates tensions between the Kremlin and the West, Kim said Russian and Chinese diplomats at the United Nations have blocked any US efforts to condemn the recent North Korean missile strike – including that Russia and China used to condemn in 2017. “Unfortunately, I can not say that we had productive discussions with China or Russia on a new UN Security Council resolution,” Kim told reporters during a briefing on Wednesday. The two countries have even blocked a public statement by the UN Security Council condemning the 13 recent launches per Kim, despite violating multiple UN resolutions. However, the United States and its allies are seeking a new resolution to condemn North Korea’s launches because “the Security Council must respond to these blatant violations of multiple Security Council resolutions,” Kim said. “This is about the credibility of the United Nations.” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a meeting of the ruling Labor Party’s political bureau in Pyongyang, North Korea, on January 19, 2022, in this photo released by North Korea’s Central Korean News Agency. Kim, who also serves as US ambassador to Indonesia, traveled to Washington this week, among other things, to meet with his Chinese counterpart on Tuesday for a “very lengthy and detailed discussion.” He said that despite the Chinese opposition, he remained “convinced that Beijing shares our goal of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”. Part of the US approach to China on this issue is due to the fact that North Korea has rejected all US petitions under the Biden government. “We have sent many messages, publicly and privately, inviting them to an unconditional dialogue,” Kim told reporters, but North Korea has not yet responded, which Kim described as “very disappointing.” He declined to speculate as to why, but said the COVID-19 pandemic could be one reason. “North Korea is” isolated in unprecedented ways and has been excluded during the COVID pandemic. Only the resumption of diplomacy can break this isolation, “he said. The United States, meanwhile, has heard more fiery rhetoric from Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Jong Un, who this week warned of a nuclear response if South Korea prepares to strike. Kim said the United States was “concerned” by the “provocative” comments. As Biden’s policy on North Korea leads nowhere fast, Kim said it still has a significant effect. While Pyongyang remains committed to perfecting its nuclear weapons program, US sanctions and pressure are “limiting their progress,” he said.
