Moscow, Beijing back Pyongyang at UN sanctions meeting

Russia and China openly backed North Korea at a United Nations Security Council meeting on nonproliferation on April 30, calling for sanctions on Pyongyang to be eased.

Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations described North Korea as “our close neighbor and partner,” saying Moscow would continue expanding military cooperation with Pyongyang despite criticism that such ties violate Security Council resolutions. China’s ambassador also argued that the resolutions include “reversibility clauses” that allow sanctions to be adjusted, urging their revision.

The meeting was convened at the request of the United States and other Western members of the Security Council to mark two years since the UN panel of experts monitoring North Korea sanctions was disbanded. The panel ended its mandate in April 2024 after Russia blocked its renewal and China abstained. The session was intended to review North Korea’s sanctions violations in the absence of an official UN monitoring mechanism and to press for international action. Instead, Russia and China used the forum to openly defend Pyongyang.

Russia’s veto two years ago is now widely seen as a turning point that accelerated closer alignment with North Korea, effectively setting aside UN sanctions in exchange for military cooperation, including the deployment of North Korean troops. By that time, North Korea had already supplied hundreds of millions of artillery shells to support Russia’s war in Ukraine. Two months after the expert panel was shut down, Pyongyang signed a military alliance treaty with Moscow and sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia. Since then, ties have deepened further, with the two countries now preparing a five-year military cooperation plan.

The Russia-North Korea alignment has also helped drive a broader North Korea-China-Russia trilateral alignment. A widely noted scene at a military parade in Beijing in September last year, where Kim Jong Un stood alongside the leaders of China and Russia, was seen as a symbolic display of tightening coordination among the three countries in opposition to the West.

Encouraged by this alignment, North Korea has intensified its push for recognition from the United States as a “nuclear-armed state,” shifting its focus away from denuclearization toward arms control negotiations. Pyongyang has also been emboldened after the U.S. president referred to it as a “nuclear state” and raised the possibility of sanctions relief.

Sanctions on North Korea remain one of the few tangible tools available to pressure Pyongyang back to negotiations. Despite enforcement gaps, they remain binding obligations under international law. Even as Russia and China call for easing measures they themselves supported, preserving the integrity of the sanctions regime is seen as essential. Strengthening multinational monitoring and maintaining international resolve will be key to preventing further erosion of the system.