China, Russia Call on U.S. To Conduct Diplomacy, Not Threats, over North Korea; LaRouche Stresses, U.S. Holds the Key

The United Nations Security Council yesterday issued a statement of condemnation of the latest missile firing by North Korea. Since then, a number of spokesmen for China and Russia, calling for a response of calm, have specifically spoken out that the United States should stop threatening North Korea, and resume diplomacy. In fact, Russia’s Ambassador to the U.N. Vasily Nebenzya, underscoring the need for negotiations, proposed yesterday the possibility for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres playing a mediating role with North Korea and other nations. This should be considered, Nebenzya said.

Lyndon LaRouche, briefed on these statements, concurs that, the U.S. holds the key to the North Korean situation. He said that this view is on the mark, and reiterated that the problem can be solved only through dialogue and political means. The proposal about Guterres is sound, he said.

Amb. Nebenzya stated that there is no way out of the North Korean crisis other than the political and diplomatic one. He made reference to the fact that the U.S. has called on Russia and China to comply with the new sanctions against North Korea under Resolution 2375, while likewise, Nebenzya called on the U.S. to implement the other part of the resolution, mandating political measures to resolve the crisis. “We said we are a responsible member of the international community and we fulfill the UN Security Council’s resolutions diligently, but this resolution also stipulates the political measures that also should be fulfilled,” Nebenzya said according to TASS. “That’s why we urged the Americans and other partners to fulfill the political and diplomatic decisions the resolution spelled out.” Further, he said that, “We’ll consider their non-fulfillment as non-compliance or insufficient compliance with the resolution.”

China’s Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai has also spoken out. He said the U.S. should stop threatening North Korea and begin negotiations. “They [the US] should refrain from issuing more threats. They should do more to find effective ways to resume dialogue and negotiation.” He said this to reporters in Washington, D.C. yesterday, according to today’s Guardian. “Honestly, I think the United States should be doing much more than now, so that there’s real effective international cooperation on this issue.”

In Beijing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said China opposed the D.P.R.K.’s missile launch, but also urged the U.S. to change its tactics towards Pyongyang. “China is not to blame for the escalation of tensions. China does not hold the key to resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, either. Those who tied the knots are responsible for untying [them].”

On the U.S. side, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said: “We have been kicking the can down the road and we’re out of road. For those who have been commenting about the lack of a military option, there is a military option. Now, it’s not what we prefer to do, so what we have to do is call on all nations to do everything we can to address this global problem, short of war.”

North Korea’s state news agency KCNA today reports that D.P.R.K.’S President Kim Jeun Il said, “Our final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the U.S., and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military options.”