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| State Department spokesperson Ned Price is seen answering a question during a daily press briefing at the department in Washington, Feb. 22, in this captured image. Yonhap |
North Korea's continued missile provocations and its nuclear development program are not helpful to any country, including China, a state department spokesperson said Wednesday, two days after China blocked U.S.-led efforts to condemn Pyongyang's latest ballistic missile tests.
The department spokesperson, Ned Price, also reiterated that all United Nations member countries have the obligation to fully implement U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions on North Korea.
"The DPRK's ballistic missile program, its nuclear program is not only a threat to the United States and our people. It's not only a threat to our treaty allies, Japan and the ROK in this case, but it is a threat to peace and security across the region," Price said during a daily press briefing.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name, ROK stands for South Korea's formal name, the Republic of Korea.
"And that is not something that the PRC likes to see. It is not something that the PRC should seek to encourage," he added, referring to China by its formal name, the People's Republic of China.
The U.S. sought to have a UNSC presidential statement issued at a Security Council meeting held on Monday, condemning North Korea's firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Saturday (Korea time), followed by two short-range ballistic missile launches two days later.
The first UNSC meeting to be held on North Korea this year ended without any outcome due to opposition from China and Russia, both veto power-wielding permanent members of the Security Council and friendly neighbors of North Korea.
Beijing and Moscow blocked 10 UNSC meetings held on North Korea in 2022 despite Pyongyang staging an unprecedented 69 ballistic missile tests, marking a new record of ballistic missiles fired in a single year. The North's previous record was at 25.
"There are other countries who are not acting responsibly. Of course, the DPRK would be at the top of that list ... but we've made no secret of the fact that permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, all member states of course, but especially permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have a special obligation to fully implement the resolutions that have emanated from the U.N. Security Council itself," Price told the press briefing.
"These are countries that have themselves raised their hands, voted for each resolution that has passed from the Security Council chamber, and therefore (it is) incumbent on these countries to uphold these resolutions and in turn to hold the DPRK accountable for its flagrant violations of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions," he added.
The state department spokesperson also reaffirmed U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea and Japan, while calling on North Korea to engage in serious dialogue.
"We remain committed to a diplomatic approach to the DPRK, and we call on the DPRK, as we consistently have, to engage in constructive dialogue," said Price.
"Our commitment, at the same time, to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan, that remains ironclad."
Meanwhile, a Pentagon spokesperson said the U.S. and South Korea held a tabletop exercise (TTX) designed to enhance their joint defense against North Korean nuclear threat in Washington earlier in the day.
"The United States and the Republic of Korea conducted the eighth U.S.-ROK Deterrence Strategy Tabletop Exercise today," Sabrina Singh, principal deputy spokesperson for the defense department, told a press briefing, adding more details will be available later in the day. (Yonhap)
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