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US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin

The US and Russia bitterly clashed over sanctions against North Korea at the UN Security Council meeting on Sept. 17. The meeting was quickly convened at the request of the US, the council’s rotating president nation for September, which appears to be tightening the screws on North Korea just ahead of the third inter-Korean summit.

At the meeting on non-proliferation and North Korea, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley accused Russia of violating UN sanctions resolutions by helping North Korea, saying that the US had “evidence of consistent and wide-ranging Russian violations.”

Haley said that just this year Washington had discovered 148 cases of oil tankers delivering fuel to North Korea via ship-to-ship transfers, which they captured on film. “Why, after voting for sanctions eleven different times, is Russia now backing away from them?” said Haley. “We know the answer. It is because Russia has been cheating. And now they’ve been caught.”

Haley also called on Russia to “end its concerted effort to cover up evidence of sanctions violations.” The remarks on cover-up attempts references Russia’s earlier insistence on changes to the draft of a UN Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea report, which had outlined Russian sanctions violations.

Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia reacted strongly, accusing the US of having “political ill-intent.”

Claiming that the work of the panel of experts "became increasingly politicized, then became ultimately the hostages to the vision of Washington,” Nebenzia said, “Unsurprisingly, therefore, we insisted on having our position reflected in the document.“ The report was amended with the agreement of all 15 council members including the American delegation and experts, he added. The US said denied this in a separate statement: “Certainly no US expert agreed - at any point in the process - to Russia’s tainted version of the report.”

The two countries also locked horns over the easing of sanctions against North Korea. Noting that “difficult, sensitive talks with North Korea are ongoing,” Haley said, “Until we get [to complete denuclearization], we must not ease the powerful worldwide sanctions that are in place.”

Nebenzia countered that “resolving the nuclear issue of the peninsula through just sanctions and pressure on Pyongyang is impossible” and suggested considering temporary lifts of sanctions to allow inter-Korean cooperation. Saying “it is difficult to come to agreement if you offer nothing in return for your demands,” Nebenzia urged the US to pursue the end-of-war declaration with North Korea. Chinese Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu also suggested easing sanctions “at the appropriate time,” as the denuclearization process moves forward.

On the other hand, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed on Sept. 18 that Minister Kang Kyung-wha and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had two phone calls about North Korean denuclearization in the morning and evening of Sept. 17.

Regarding the evening call, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that “Secretary Pompeo mentioned that he had internally shared Minister Kang’s morning presentation on preparations for the inter-Korean summit, and said that he wished for the success of the summit.”

In the afternoon of the same day, US Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris visited the Foreign Ministry to discuss the denuclearization talks taking place at the inter-Korean summit with Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs special representative Lee Do-hoon.

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent, and Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]