2 Koreas split on UN move on Ukraine War

• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

A year after Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the U.N. General Assembly firmly and sternly rebuked Russia's brutal war against a sovereign country. With a thumping majority of 141 in favor, only 7 against and 32 abstentions, the Assembly again issued a non-binding resolution demanding Russia's military withdrawal from Ukraine and calling for a "comprehensive, just and lasting peace."

Thus, to the unrelenting backdrop of thudding artillery and lethal cruise missile attacks, Ukraine still stands tall but battered a year into what Russian leader Vladimir Putin calls a "special military operation," which has hardly brought glory to his own once vaunted military. Ukraine's war has become a grinding stalemate.

Nevertheless, on the diplomatic front in New York, while lacking the danger, drama and debilitating cold of this ongoing war in Europe, there's a clear consensus to censure and sanction Russia's actions, which violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The hallowed principles of "a rules-based international order" are regularly recited by most diplomats almost in rote and offer the relentless chorus to what remains a long path to any negotiated peace.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated at the onset of the Emergency Special Session on Ukraine, "The one-year mark of Russia's invasion of Ukraine stands as a grim milestone, for the people of Ukraine and for the international community." He added that 40 percent of Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance with 8 million refugees "creating the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War."

Yet diplomatic denunciations of Russia aside, here's how the U.N. Assembly vote tallied. Yes, 141 with the United States, Canada, all of Europe and most of Latin America supporting the resolution. So did Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore. Among African states, key countries such as Nigeria and Kenya backed the plan along with Egypt and Morocco.

Only six countries backed Russia; Belarus, Eritrea, Mali, North Korea, Nicaragua and Syria.

Among 32 abstentions there's nuance and "non-alignment," India, Iran, Pakistan and South Africa. But China, Cuba, Vietnam and Zimbabwe abstained to the chagrin of Moscow.

"We are satisfied with the outcome and the message is clear," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the media after the vote.

The U.S. U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield commented, 141 countries demanded Russia, "withdraw immediately, completely and...