MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/. Washington’s calls for a global shutdown of all ties with North Korea are no less destructive than Pyongyang’s missile tests themselves, head of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house) International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev said on Thursday.
"Missile tests are an obvious and unjustifiable violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. That is plain and simple. However, the United States’ calls for a global shutdown of all ties are no less destructive. They are in line with America’s current all stick and no carrot logic," Kosachev wrote on Facebook.
The senator expressed bewilderment over the fact that the countries that pride themselves on their democracy domestically while demanding the same from others, behave like "totally repressive tyrants" in the international arena, "resorting to repressions, sanctions and pressure every time."
He noted that "one-third of all countries around the globe" have been sanctioned by the West bypassing the UN Security Council, "which in itself proves the absurdity of this institution." "The countries that concern themselves with human rights deliver these sanctions blows at the population," Kosachev noted. He added that "cutting off the population’s access to basic amenities of civilization (and this is true of both North Korea and, for instance, Crimea) is a much more serious violation of human rights than rejecting the propaganda of same-sex relationships."
"The United States has once again shown its diplomatic and negotiating bankruptcy offering others, in actual fact, a cover-up for Washington’s failures. At the same time, when Pyongyang showed restraint, Washington, without even waiting for a second, added North Korea to the list of countries sponsoring terrorism and plans to conduct exercises in December, adding fuel to the fire of Korean problems," Kosachev noted.
"One cannot fail to reflect on who poses a bigger threat to international security - the authoritarian North Koreans in their own country or the despotic Americans on the world stage," the senator concluded.
Washington’s move
US Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haley earlier urged all countries at a Security Council meeting to sever any ties with North Korea, including diplomatic relations, and terminate military, scientific, technical and economic cooperation with the Asian country. She also called for a complete ban on hiring workers from North Korea.
On the morning of November 29, North Korea carried out its first missile launch since September 15. According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a Hwasong-15 advanced missile reached an altitude of 4,475 km and covered a distance of 950 km within 53 minutes of its flight. The information provided by Japan and South Korea matches this data. Japan’s Defense Ministry reported that the missile plummeted 250 km away from the northern Aomori prefecture.