UN / DPRK US AMBASSADOR
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STORY: UN / DPRK US AMBASSADOR
TRT: 03:55
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 04 FEBRUARY 2022, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, United Nations Headquarters
04 FEBRUARY 2022, NEW YORK CITY
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“The DPRK’s January 30th launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile is a significant escalation in the DPRK’s recent violations of multiple Security Council resolutions and seeks to further destabilize the region. We condemn this unlawful action in the strongest terms. This IRBM marks the regime’s longest-range test since late 2017. It also marks a new and troubling record – the nine ballistic missiles launched in January is the largest number of launches the DPRK has conducted in a single month in the history of its WMD and ballistic missile programs. We also welcome the Secretary General’s statement on Tuesday, which condemned the DPRK’s IRBM launch as a clear violation of Security Council resolutions. We call on all Council members to speak with one voice in condemning these dangerous and unlawful acts. Albania, Brazil, France, Ireland, Japan, Norway, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States have been clear and unequivocal in expressing concern over the DPRK’s continued Security Council violations and its alarming behavior. The cost of the Council’s ongoing silence is too high. It will embolden the DPRK to further defy the international community; to normalize its violations of Security Council resolutions; to further destabilize the region; and to continue to threaten international peace and security. This is an outcome that we should not accept. We urge all Member States, and particularly our fellow Council Members, to play a constructive role in the implementation of Security Council resolutions addressing the DPRK, which obligate the DPRK to abandon its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner. The international sanctions regime is an important tool for addressing the threat posed by the DPRK’s unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs. We reiterate our call for the DPRK to cease its destabilizing actions and return to dialogue. We remain committed to seeking serious and sustained diplomacy. The DPRK must make this same commitment in order to ease regional tensions and to ensure international peace and security. We continue to urge the DPRK to respond positively to the offers from the United States and others to meet without preconditions. We stand ready to engage in dialogue, and we will not waver in our pursuit of regional peace and stability and the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula consistent with relevant Security Council resolutions.”
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“The United States has made clear that we are willing to meet with the North Koreans without preconditions. But before we can commit our president to meeting, we need to have a better sense of what there is to achieve. I can't comment on what the Trump administration achieved. We had ballistic missiles testing throughout the past four years. It never stopped him. So we have to keep keep up the pressure.”
4. Zoom out, Thomas-Greenfield walks away
Reading a joint statement on behalf of Albania, Brazil, France, Ireland, Japan, Norway, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States, United States Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield today (4 Feb) said the DPRK’s launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) this week, “is a significant escalation in the DPRK’s recent violations of multiple Security Council resolutions and seeks to further destabilize the region.”
The statement condemned “this unlawful action in the strongest terms,” adding that it marks “the regime’s longest-range test since late 2017.”
It also noted that “the nine ballistic missiles launched in January is the largest number of launches the DPRK has conducted in a single month in the history of its WMD and ballistic missile programs.”
Reading the statement, Thomas-Greenfield said, “the cost of the Council’s ongoing silence is too high. It will embolden the DPRK to further defy the international community; to normalize its violations of Security Council resolutions; to further destabilize the region; and to continue to threaten international peace and security. This is an outcome that we should not accept.”
Responding to a question from a journalists, the US Ambassador said, “the United States has made clear that we are willing to meet with the North Koreans without preconditions. But before we can commit our president to meeting, we need to have a better sense of what there is to achieve. I can't comment on what the Trump administration achieved. We had ballistic missiles testing throughout the past four years. It never stopped him. So we have to keep keep up the pressure.”
The test was the seventh missile test overall carried out this year by North Korea, and marked the sixth ballistic missile test, according to reports.
Earlier last week, two short range ballistic missiles were reportedly fired into the sea of the east coast, and what were believed to be cruise missiles, were fired into the same waters a few days earlier.
In early January, DPRK claimed to have successfully tested two hypersonic missiles, and then another from a rail car, on 14 January.
Security Council resolutions prohibit the development of all ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.