Russian Mission's comments on the so called “blocking” of UN Security Council press statement on DPRK by Russia
We have been quite surprised by media reports that the Russian delegation allegedly “blocked” the draft UN Security Council press statement condemning Pyongyang's missile launch of April 15, 2017.
The draft was actually introduced by the US delegation on April 19. We took note that the proposed text contained some language that was not previously agreed in the standard press statements on the condemnation of DPRK’s missile launches. In particular, the penholder deleted the words “through dialogue” in the context of denuclearization and peaceful solution on the Korean Peninsula. These words are quoted from operative paragraph 48 of UN Security Council’s latest resolution 2321 on DPRK sanctions adopted unanimously in 2016. Moreover, previously they didn’t provoke any doubts with the US delegation.
When we requested to restore the agreed language that was of political importance and expressed commitment to continue to work on the draft with the penholder, the US delegation without providing any explanations cancelled the work on the draft claiming that is was Russia who had “blocked” the statement.
