North Korea Fires Signal Rocket for 'Resumption of Provocation'... Will the Security Council Remain Silent Again?

No News on ICBM Response Since Last November
Chairman's Statement Stalled Due to China-Russia Non-Cooperation
North Korea Adds Sanctions: 4 Individuals, 5 Organizations

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] Following North Korea's launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) 'Hwasong-15' threatening the United States, and the subsequent firing of rocket artillery shells aimed at the South, there is a prevailing outlook that a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions resolution is unlikely. It is anticipated that North Korea, having resumed provocations under the pretext of the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, will escalate its provocations by leveraging China and Russia as its 'backers.'

The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) into the East Sea around 7 a.m. on the 20th. North Korea claims these missiles are 600mm super-large rocket artillery, a tactical nuclear attack means, threatening that four of them could completely destroy the enemy's operational airfield. Earlier, on the 18th at around 5:22 p.m., North Korea launched the Hwasong-15 ICBM from the Sunan area near Pyongyang into the East Sea.

United Nations

According to diplomatic sources, the government is reportedly consulting with allies such as the United States and Japan on specific measures to raise issues regarding this ICBM launch. In principle, a new sanctions resolution should be pursued at the UNSC level in response to the ICBM launch. Typically, UNSC member states hold meetings to discuss the direction of the response.

The problem is that even the presidential statement intended to respond to North Korea's Hwasong-17 ICBM launch last November remains stalled. When the sanctions resolution was blocked due to frequent vetoes by China and Russia, the U.S. proposed adopting a presidential statement and even prepared a draft. The judgment was that a unified voice at the UNSC level should be expressed, even if toned down.

However, China and Russia continue to consistently refuse cooperation even on the presidential statement. A spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations recently stated, "Progress on the presidential statement is difficult because 'two member states' have refused to engage in working-level negotiations," implying that China and Russia continue to withhold cooperation.

North Korea conducts ICBM 'Hwasong-15' launch training [Image source=Yonhap News]

There is also a perspective that North Korea is responding sensitively to the Security Council recently. On the 17th, a spokesperson for North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned in a statement, "We cannot help but reconsider additional measures beyond the scope of normal military activities in protest against the Security Council, which is being transformed into a tool for pressure against the DPRK." This is analyzed as North Korea preemptively applying pressure with additional provocations in mind, regardless of the Security Council's response.

Professor Park Won-gon of Ewha Womans University’s Department of North Korean Studies said, "North Korea plans to develop ICBM technology while creating tensions not only on the Korean Peninsula but also in the Indo-Pacific region under the pretext of responding to South Korea and the U.S. If North Korea carries out major provocations such as a seventh nuclear test, the Security Council may discuss additional sanctions, but North Korea is preemptively raising issues at the Security Council to give China and Russia a pretext to 'not cooperate.'"

Meanwhile, apart from the UNSC-level response, the government additionally designated four individuals and five organizations as targets of independent sanctions against North Korea on the same day. This is the fastest additional sanction imposed following North Korea's provocations in history. This measure comes just ten days after the announcement of independent sanctions in response to North Korea's illegal cyber activities on the 10th, and marks the fourth independent sanction under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.