Page 224 - Trilateral Korea Japan U.S. Cooperation

these weapons preemptively (emulating the tactics of fellow
despot Vladimir Putin).

Meanwhile, despite Pyongyang’s continued threats,
provocations and human rights violations, China has
continued to defend, protect, and thus empower the North
Korea regime. Along with co-conspirator Russia, China is
preventing the enforcement or strengthening of frequently-
violated (yet supposedly “mandatory”) United Nations
Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions while trying to
shift the blame for the current deteriorating situation onto
South Korea, Japan, and/or the United States. China is
also aiding and abetting human rights violations in North
Korea, especially with its forced repatriation of North Korean
defectors who face torture or worse upon their return to North
Korea. Meanwhile, the Russians have vetoed the extension
of the UN Panel of Experts tasked with monitoring UN
sanctions enforcement; Beijing abstained, thus reducing the
pressure against Moscow’s action. Of note, one of the Panel
of Experts’ most recent findings was to confirm that North
Korea-produced missiles were being used against Ukraine.

The close ties between Beijing and Pyongyang, now aided
and abetted by Moscow, add urgency to the question of just
how well prepared South Korea, Japan, and the United States
are, both individually and collectively, to deal with growing
Northeast Asia security challenges?

224 Section III : South Korea-Japan-U.S. Cooperation: How to Deter Pyongyang and Dissuade Beijing