NEW YORK • The US and Russia are waging rival campaigns at the UN Security Council over the type of ballistic missile fired by North Korea this month as Washington pushes to impose stronger sanctions on Pyongyang over the test..
NEW YORK • The US and Russia are waging rival campaigns at the UN Security Council over the type of ballistic missile fired by North Korea this month as Washington pushes to impose stronger sanctions on Pyongyang over the test.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley held an intelligence briefing for her council colleagues on Monday to argue that Pyongyang fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) . It was attended by Russia and North Korean ally China, among others.
UN diplomats said Russia had suggested that Russian and US military experts exchange information on the launch.
The US briefing came after Russia sent a brief letter and diagram on July 8 to the 15-member Security Council, asserting that its radars had determined that the missile launched by Pyongyang on July 4 was a medium-range one.
However, a spokesman for the British mission said the missile launched by North Korea « was almost certainly an ICBM, capable of achieving a range in excess of 5,500km. We have high confidence in this assessment ».
Ukrainian Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko, who also attended the briefing, said Russia’s envoy was not convinced by the US evidence and that the Chinese ambassador « did not say a word ».
While Russia contends that the launch was not an ICBM, China is « slipping behind that as a way of not definitively saying that now is the right time for a resolution », said a Security Council diplomat.
