Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield reported that the United States and its allies are in constant discussions "both inside and outside the U.N." with the aim of creating new systems to monitor the program of North Korea's nuclear weapons.
At a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, the ambassador declared that she "hopes to collaborate with both the Republic of Korea and Japan, but also with like-minded countries, to try to develop options both inside and outside the U.N."
The ambassador referred to the U.N. resolution vetoed by Russia last month. With Moscow's refusal, monitoring by U.N. experts of Security Council sanctions against North Korea was abolished:
The point here is that we cannot allow the work that the expert panel was doing to lapse.
Russia and China will continue to try to block international efforts
Thomas-Greenfield met with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and discussed "unspecified next steps to ensure a continuation of independent and accurate reporting" on North Korea's nuclear weapons development. However, no further details about the talks were provided.
Today, I met with Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul to discuss our shared priorities on the UN Security Council, including countering the DPRK’s threatening actions. I thanked 🇰🇷 for its continued regional and global leadership. pic.twitter.com/QCJx4QICQs
— Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (@USAmbUN) April 15, 2024
Thomas-Greenfield stated that Russia and China will continue to try to block international efforts to maintain U.N. sanctions against North Korea.
I don't expect them to cooperate or agree with any efforts we make to find another way, but that won't stop us from finding that way in the future.
The ambassador also answered questions about tensions in the Middle East. She assured that approving Palestine's request to be a full member of the U.N. would not contribute to finding a solution to the conflict:
President Biden has said categorically that we support a two-state solution to address the situation in the Middle East, where the Palestinians will have a state of their own and Israel will be secure in its state, and we are working on the ground to reach that agreement as quickly as possible. ... We do not see that a resolution in the Security Council will necessarily take us to a place where we can find a two-state solution in the future.
