UN General Assembly holds its first meeting under new Veto Initiative resolution
At June 10 plenary meeting of the United Nations General Assembly Lithuania’s Permanent Representative to the UN Rytis Paulauskas expressed deep concern regarding the DPRK‘s development of unlawful nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, including its most recent launches of ballistic missiles. The DPRK was urged to comply fully with the UN Security Council resolutions and to engage in meaningful discussions with all relevant parties.
Since the beginning of this year, the DPRK has launched 31 ballistic missiles. On 26 May UN Security Council voted on the draft Resolution to impose additional restrictive measures on DPRK, but fell short of its adoption with 13 votes in favor and two votes against.
This General Assembly plenary meeting was the first one held in accordance with the recently adopted GA Resolution 76/262, so-called Veto Initiative. The UN General Assembly considered the situation where the misuse of veto power by Russia and China – two permanent members of the Security Council – has prevented this Council from acting in fulfilment of its responsibility to maintain international peace and security, this time regarding challenges of non-proliferation in the DPRK.
