Pakistan hopes to revive North Korea talks in return to Security Council
Source: – Kyodo News+
Pakistan’s envoy to the United Nations expressed hope that the Security Council will strengthen its dialogue on issues related to North Korea as Islamabad begins its two-year term as a nonpermanent member of the panel.
During a recent interview with Kyodo News, Munir Akram said Pakistan is “concerned” about the lack of sufficient talk in the United Nations on the “normalization of the situation on the Korean Peninsula.”
“We hope that in the Security Council, we will find ways of reviving the dialogue and to decrease the tensions in the whole region,” he said.
Munir Akram, Pakistan’s envoy to the United Nations, speaks during an interview in New York on Dec. 16, 2024. (Kyodo)
Akram spoke to Kyodo News ahead of the annual change in the panel’s composition, as five of the 10 nonpermanent members rotated out on Jan. 1. Pakistan assumed the Asia-Pacific seat previously held by Japan, while Denmark, Greece, Panama and Somalia joined the council from other regions for terms lasting through 2026.
Pakistan has previously served on the Security Council seven times, most recently for the term spanning 2012 and 2013.
The envoy said his country, as a nuclear weapons possessor that has diplomatic relations with North Korea, supports the goals of nonproliferation and calls for “a complete ban on nuclear testing.”
“So those are principles which will guide our decision,” Akram said when asked about Pakistan’s response to a possible seventh nuclear test by North Korea.
The council, charged with maintaining international peace and security, has been faulted for its paralysis in the face of global crises due to the unilateral veto power held by each of the five permanent members, with the criticism mounting especially since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Amid divisions between the council’s permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — Akram said the nonpermanent members need to work toward bridging their differences.
Pakistan seeks the creation of a nuclear weapon-free zone in South Asia but cannot back the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as long as its neighboring country India holds a nuclear arsenal, Akram said.
“While we need our nuclear capability to prevent aggression, we cannot support the ban treaty,” he said.
The treaty took effect in 2021, but many U.N. members have declined to join it, including the United States and other nuclear powers, as well as Japan.
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