UNITED NATIONS, US: Washington and its allies challenged North Korea at the United Nations on Friday over claims Pyongyang is breaching arms control measures by supplying weapons to Russia to use in its war in Ukraine.
Washington’s deputy envoy to the UN Robert Wood hit out at what he said were “unlawful arms transfers from the DPRK (North Korea) to Russia” as the two sides forge ever closer ties.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms, those unlawful transfers, which have significantly contributed to Russia’s ability to conduct its war against Ukraine,” Wood said ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on the issue.
The supply of arms and munitions by North Korea violates Security Council resolutions on the issue from 2006, 2009 and 2016, he said.
Jonah Leff, executive director at Conflict Armament Research which tracks the use of weapons in war, told the Security Council that CAR had found evidence of North Korean ballistic missile use in Ukraine — in breach of sanctions.
“A CAR field investigation team physically documented the remnants of a ballistic missile that struck Kharkiv on January 2, 2024,” that he said investigators concluded was North Korean-made “based on several unique features.”
Leff said identical missiles had also struck Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia earlier this year.
Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya denied Moscow had sought to undermine sanctions, and opposed the presence of Ukraine and the European Union at the meeting.
Ties between Moscow and Pyongyang have grown rapidly in recent years, with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month and signing a mutual defense agreement.
Tensions are high on the peninsula with South Korea alarmed at Moscow’s embrace of its unpredictable neighbor, and the North responding to balloons carrying pro-Seoul propaganda with its own balloons carrying trash southward.
Wood said China could do more to prevent growing military ties between Russia and North Korea. That drew a rebuke from Beijing’s UN ambassador who said “the US must reflect deeply — especially on its own actions instead of blaming others” for growing tensions on the peninsula.
Pyongyang tested a ballistic missile on June 25, which Wood said showed “contempt” for the Security Council.
Washington has long claimed that Russia is using up munitions and losing heavy equipment in Ukraine, forcing the Kremlin to turn to its small pool of allies, including North Korea, for support.
North Korea’s UN ambassador Kim Song told the Security Council there was “no reason whatever to be concerned” and the agreement signed between Moscow and Pyongyang was to “promote progress” in relations.
Washington was joined by allies France and Britain in its condemnation of what it says are sanctions-busting arms shipments from North Korea to Russia.
Putin has slammed the United States for its ongoing military support for Ukraine, saying last week that he “does not rule out” sending weapons to North Korea.
US, allies condemn North Korea for sanctions-busting arms sales to Russia
https://arab.news/bhw3r
US, allies condemn North Korea for sanctions-busting arms sales to Russia
Backlash as Australia kills dingoes after backpacker death
- The euthanization program has stirred debate about how to manage the local population of dingoes
- Wildlife experts said killing the animals was the wrong response and may threaten the island’s dingo population
SYDNEY: Australian authorities have sparked a backlash by killing a group of dingoes linked to the death of a young Canadian woman on an island in the country’s east.
The Queensland government said six animals were put down after 19-year-old backpacker Piper James’s body was found on January 19 at a beach on the World Heritage-listed island of K’gari.
The euthanization program has stirred debate about how to manage the local population of dingoes, a sandy-colored canine believed to have first arrived in Australia 4,000 to 5,000 years ago.
An autopsy conducted on James’ body found evidence “consistent with drowning” but also detected injuries corresponding to dingo bites.
“Pre-mortem dingo bite marks are not likely to have caused immediate death,” said a spokesperson for the Coroners Court of Queensland.
The coroner’s investigation into the cause of death was expected to take several weeks.
In response, the Queensland government said a pack of 10 dingoes involved would be euthanized after rangers had observed some “aggressive behavior.”
Six of the dingoes had already been euthanized, the state’s environment minister, Andrew Powell, told reporters Sunday.
“Obviously, the operation will continue,” he said.
The traditional owners of K’gari, the Butchulla people, said the state’s failure to consult with them before euthanizing the dingoes — or wongari in their language — was “unexpected and disappointing.”
“Once again, it feels as though economic priorities are being placed above the voices of the people and traditional owners, which is frustrating and difficult to accept,” the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation said in a statement to Australian media this week.
‘You are food’
Wildlife experts said killing the animals was the wrong response and may threaten the island’s dingo population, estimated at just 70-200 animals.
Given their small numbers, killing a pack of 10 animals would harm the population’s genetic diversity, said Mathew Crowther, professor of quantitative conservation biology at the University of Sydney.
“There’s no moral from the dingoes’ point of view. They’re just being wild animals, doing wild things,” Crowther said.
Dingoes tend to lose their fear of people as they interact with tourists, some of whom defy advice against feeding the animals.
“That’s the worst thing you can do to a wild animal,” Crowther said.
“They just relate humans to food, and if you don’t give them food, well, you are food — that’s basically how it is.”
Dingoes are wild, predatory animals and need to be treated with respect, said Bill Bateman, associate professor in the school of molecular and life sciences at Curtin University.
The canines are more likely to attack children or people who are alone, and may be triggered when people turn their backs or run, he said.
“These are important animals, and therefore we need to change the way we deal with them, otherwise we’re just going to keep reacting to these attacks and driving the population of dingoes down,” Bateman said.
Wildlife managers, rangers, Indigenous people and tourism operators need to work together so that humans and dingoes can coexist on the island, he said.
Todd James, the father of Piper, has described on social media how his family’s hearts were “shattered” by her death.
News of the dingoes’ euthanization was “heart-wrenching,” he told Australian media, adding however that he recognized it may be necessary for safety because of the pack’s behavior.
