Paul
Goble
Staunton, May 19 – Ignoring US calls
for isolating North Korea in order to force Pyongyang to rein in its nuclear
program, Russia and North Korea yesterday opened a new shipping route between
Vladivostok and the North Korean port of Rajin that will carry both passengers
and cargo (interfax.ru/world/562791).
A 193-passenger 1500 ton North
Korean ship will make weekly trips between the two countries, and Russian
commentators are already celebrating this action as the latest Russian
challenge to American pretensions in the region and Washington’s calls to
isolate North Korea (svegienovosti.mirtesen.ru/blog/43298332494/Rossiya-demonstrativno-proignorirovala-zapret-SSHA).
In the words of Nil
Protasov, “the opening of this new route between Russia and North Korea is in
fact a challenge to Washington whose [Congressional] legislators broadened the
authority of the US to include monitoring” of Russian ports as part of the West’s
sanctions regime against Pyongyang.
According to him, “Russia warned the
Americans about the inevitability of armed conflict if any efforts are made to
control Russian ports. The launching of a new route is a clear signal from
Moscow: no one has the right to dictate its will to a sovereign country.”
Russian officials have called for
talks with North Korea rather than additional sanctions of efforts at isolation
(svpressa.ru/politic/news/172692/),
and new polls show that a significant share of the Russian population backs the
right of countries like North Korea to develop their own nuclear weapons
despite what the West and non-proilferation accords say.
A VTsIOM poll released earlier this
week showed that 41 percent of Russians take that position (rbc.ru/society/16/05/2017/591a90ba9a7947334e200a74?from=main).
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