A rocket launched on Sunday by North Korea – described as an observation satellite but feared by the international community to be a ballistic missile – caused an immediate UN Security Council meeting and put North Korea’s traditional supporters in a difficult spot.
All fifteen council members backed a statement saying that the long-range rocket deployment “contributes to the DPRK’s (North Korea’s) development of nuclear weapon delivery systems and is a serious violation of four Security Council resolutions.” They reaffirmed that: “a clear threat to international peace and security continued to exist, especially in the context of the nuclear test.”
This could be the second time in a month in which the Asian communist country has allegedly disobeyed the UN prohibition of nuclear and ballistic missile activity, after North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un claimed in January to have tested a hydrogen bomb. A few hours after the rocket’s takeoff on Sunday morning, watched in Pyongyang through a giant public screen, the country declared it would “continue to launch more man-made satellites.”
Every new defiance by North Korea’s government forces its neighbours to take a stance and give a response. While South Korea’s allies – the US and Japan – have a clear posture against any North Korean attempt to develop a nuclear capacity, countries traditionally allied to North Korea – China and Russia – find it difficult to tolerate Kim Jong Un.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches the rocket launch / Source: Reuters.
“We strongly recommend the leadership of DPRK think about whether a policy of opposing the entire international community meets the interests of the country,” said Russia’s Foreign Ministry. China last week sent its veteran diplomat Wu Dawei in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the North Koreans not to launch.
To defend against any DPRK program to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles, South Korea and the US are thinking of deploying an advanced missile defence system in South Korea, but China and Russia oppose this move as reckless.
The Korean Peninsula is the world’s most militarised area, and recurrent threats could fuel further instability in the population and lead to a mass migration phenomenon – China’s worst fear.
Indeed, maybe this instability threat somehow influenced the recent decision-making in HSBC bank to move its global headquarters from London to Hong Kong. Europe’s largest bank, with 266,000 employees worldwide, has been largely thinking of moving to Asia, where it earns 80% of its profits, pushed by Britain’s levy on bank assets and uncertainties over Brexit. However, maybe they have found bigger uncertainties to avoid and will stay in London. HSBC is expected to announce it will stay in the UK capital within the next fortnight.
