US leaves UN meeting after France’s North Korea settlement

France outraged by USA

“And the world no longer listens to them”

France had compared the USA to North Korea – triggering outrage in Washington. Now the argument escalated.

There is a diplomatic scandal in the UN Security Council France and the USA came. In a highly unusual move, U.S. representatives walked out of the meeting of the United Nations’ most powerful body on Monday as France’s U.N. Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont took the floor. French UN representatives had previously criticized the USA for its authoritarian rule North Korea compared and thus in Washington sparked outrage.

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The comparison had already been made on Friday when the UN General Assembly voted on a four-year extension of the mandate of UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk. As one of ten countries, including North Korea, Nicaragua and Russiathe USA spoke out against extending Türk’s term of office.

“The USA was once a beacon of human rights. It is no longer,” wrote the French UN mission in Geneva. “Today they stand isolated alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali and Russia. And the world doesn’t listen to them anymore.”

US diplomat Dan Negrea on Monday criticized these French statements as “mendacious sensationalism”. “There is a member of this council who feigns moral outrage and acts as if he can lecture us all on any subject,” Negrea said, apparently referring to France.

These “teachings” occurred “even on issues that have nothing to do with international peace and security, such as human rights,” Negrea said. That is why the USA left the meeting of the UN Security Council while France was speaking.

France and the USA are permanent members of the UN Security Council. Both have veto rights. Monday’s meeting was about the war in the Ukraine.