The Russian president’s visit to North Korea (or DPRK) was characterized by reiterating his country’s commitment to fight US-lead sanctions leveled on his host nation (here). It has become clear that UN sanctions on Pyongyang are driven by Washington’s narrow-minded goals, and Russia is responding appropriately. Russia’s veto of the extension of the mandate of the UN Panel of Experts to monitor compliance and sanctions violations in the DPRK in March 2024 reintroduces balance and prevents Washington’s abuse of the UN…
The aforementioned veto will collapse the UN sanction regime and boost DPRK’s development, diminishing Washington’s façade of being the only guarantor of development, which was also shattered by the end of 20 years of U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) (here) that leaves Iraq worse off than DPRK.
In the News… Sanctions against Pyongyang Flawed
On 19th June 2024, Russian president left DPRK and headed to Vietnam for a state visit of Russia’s historical allies. President Vladimir Putin spoke extensively on UN sanctions on DPRK, and the author reminds readers that the Asian country faces rabid restrictions on importing petroleum, luxury items, textiles, and exporting labor (essentially curtailing North Korean’s freedom of moving abroad). It is incomprehensible how such medieval sanctions could be made by the US or UN, both of which purport to advance and protect people’s freedoms. Returning to Putin’s trip, North Korea and Vietnam had close relations with the Soviet Union, which aided them to stand against US-Imposed wars from 1950s to mid-1970s. Also, both developed government systems with some aspects from the Soviet Union, but also responding to their unique realities. Consequently, they have faced immense pressure primarily because their economic models restrict western corporations from exploiting their citizenry for profit, and such may have motivated US belligerence and barbaric sanctions mentioned earlier. The western mainstream media (MSM) disparages North Korea, depicting it as a state crumbling under lack of infrastructure, buildings, or the internet, but omits the role of vindictive US-led UN sanctions that restrict the country from freely trading in petroleum, textiles, and luxury items or having its citizen’s work abroad, which curtail development. The US and UN enthusiastically maintain these sanctions by claiming to prevent DPRK from seeking nuclear weapons to defend against being invaded like Iraq was, even as the UN watched. DPRK seems to have fared better than Iraq, as Vladimir Putin’s visit allowed filming of continuous video of Pyongyang, showing new and well-maintained roads, and modern skyscrapers that can rival those in many cities globally, including Bagdad, Tripoli, Sanaa, and Kabul, which have been ruined by ravenous US actions under UN’s acquiescent eye.
Russia’s visit to North Korea and signing of strategic partnership affirms rejection of US-lead UN sanctions, and marks the end of UN abuse by the West. The UN has justified its sanctions against North Korea by claiming that they would restrict the country’s ability to develop nuclear weapons, which was highly hypocritical, given that the same (UN) was unable to defend Iraq, but watched as Washington and its insular allies fabricated Weapons of Mass Destruction lies (WMD) and invaded, even while preparing to destroy Iran and North Korea. Principally, the UN sanctioned DPRK from 2006 for developing nuclear arms it needed to safeguard against being destroyed by the US like Iraq or being endlessly provoked like Iran. Ridiculously, the world agreed to follow the UN instead of holding Washington to account, which might have sent the message that Pyongyang was on its own, which inspired it to act accordingly. Conversely, the US had failed to give leadership towards concluding a peace agreement with the DPRK since the end of the Korean War in the 1950s. Still, if Washington felt (or feels) threatened by Pyongyang’s weapons of mass destruction, it is puzzling why it forces the rest of the world to rally against Pyongyang, despite having a large stockpile of nuclear weapons itself. It is clear that the Washington-led sanction crusade against North Korea had (and has) nothing to do with the world’s security but pursuit of the West’s patriarchal goals, which the rest of the world should stay away from. For that reason, the damaging and hypocritical role of the UN sanctions needs to be altered by reintroducing impartiality, and Russia’s action concerning DPRK can aid in this direction.
Freeing the UN from Washington’s Appropriation
In 2016, Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s Envoy to the UN (now late) remarked that Multilateral institutions become Washington’s mouthpiece without Independent Russia (here). Readers can confirm this by looking into the 1990s and 2000s, when Russia voted alongside the US, to the great detriment of global peace. Meanwhile, rabid US actions continued leading to destruction, for instance, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and economic strangling of Iran and North Korea. Still, Washington appropriated the UN and fashioned UNAMI to rule Iraq after ravaging it, while creating sanctions to curtail North Korea’s and Iran’s development, and hence prepare them for future invasion. The Iraqi’ puppet regime that was established after the 2003 invasion invited the UN, which was hence utilized as the Washington Empire’s administrative tool. Thomas Barnet, a Pentagon and States Department researcher, outlined in a 2008 TED talk (here) how the US empire was composed of the military force that beat the hell out of a country and the administrative force that managed the ravaged country to peace, to free the US to move on to the next one. The excerpt below illustrates how the unelected UNAMI was performing all functions of government under US directions;
The current mandate of UNAMI encompasses … provision of support and assistance to the Government and the people of Iraq on advancing inclusive political dialogue and national and community-level reconciliation; electoral support; promoting accountability; protecting human rights; judicial and legal reform; gender mainstreaming; and delivery in the humanitarian and development areas (here).
Therefore, the UN through UNAMI was used by the US to govern destroyed Iraq, freeing the pentagon to peddle its savagery to Libya, Syria, and Yemen. The UN must be freed.
A future where Washington is not both the Offender and the ‘Victim’
The US contributed to creating the DPRK’s nuclear threat and must not be allowed to benefit from its actions. While Washington was abusing the UN in Iraq, it was urging the Security Council to sanction North Korea for developing Nuclear weapons, which the Asian country needed to defend itself, after being marked for destruction by George W. Bush. To prevent Washington from benefiting from its crimes, all other countries should lift all sanctions against North Korea, and Russia’s lead may help with this direction. With such a move, the trend of Washington misusing other countries and multilateral organizations will come to an end. Russia’s vetoing the resolution on extending the role of PoE monitoring compliance with sanctions in North Korea marks a stage when North Korea and other states that the US does not like can arm themselves to be safe from Washington’s clobbering based on flimsy justification, and still maintained economic ties with their allies without being sanctioned by the UN.
Simon Chege Ndiritu, is a political observer and research analyst from Africa, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.