UNITED NATIONS—Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for the United Nations to ease sanctions on North Korea as a reward for progress on nuclear talks, clashing with the U.S. and its allies during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who chaired the meeting of 15 member countries at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Thursday, said it was critical for all nations to strictly enforce sanctions to maintain pressure on North Korea.
Mr. Pompeo used his opening address to swipe at permanent Security Council members Russia and China for violating U.N. sanctions involving the sale of petroleum products in excess of North Korea’s maximum 500,000-barrel allowance and for providing other forms of economic relief.
“The members of this Council must set the example on that effort, and we must all hold each other accountable,” Mr. Pompeo said, calling for an end of ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products, linked to Chinese and Russian entities, and a halt to hosting of North Korean laborers, a reference to the thousands of workers who have been granted permission to work in Russia.
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“This violates the spirit and the letter of the Security Council resolutions that we all agreed to uphold,” he told the Council.
Mr. Lavrov used his address to bash the U.S. and its allies for exerting excessive pressure on North Korea, saying it was unacceptable for sanctions to be used as a form of “collective punishment.”
Mr. Lavrov defended North Korea’s call for economic relief, saying Pyongyang has taken meaningful steps toward implementing its promise to give up its nuclear weapons and urged the U.N. Security Council to send a “positive signal” in return.
“Negotiations are a two-way street,” Mr. Lavrov said, adding that Russia would draft a proposal to allow certain economic projects in North Korea to be exempt from sanctions.
Mr. Lavrov said such projects would be in the interest of all parties and would ease the “extreme socioeconomic and humanitarian suffering” caused by the sweeping sanctions regime currently in place. He also took aim at the U.S. for implementing secondary sanctions, which he described as “illicit practices” that undermine the sovereignty of other nations.
The U.S. this month sanctioned a Russian company for providing port services to North Korean ships, and Chinese companies for exporting alcohol and cigarettes to North Korea.
The Russian minister’s calls for a softer approach were met with opposition by U.S. allies, including Japan, France and the U.K., who all spoke out on the need for unity at the Council and the strict enforcement of U.N. sanctions.
South Korea, meanwhile, said North Korea was prepared to undertake the major step of dismantling its Yongbyon nuclear reactor if the U.S. offered a reciprocal concession. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha didn’t specify what steps the U.S. might take.
North Korea, along with Russia, wants the Security Council to lift restrictions or offer exemptions that would provide economic relief in exchange for progress rolling back its nuclear and missile programs. Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, who led North Korea’s delegation to the U.N. this week, didn’t attend the Security Council meeting. Mr. Ri met separately with both the U.S. and Russia ahead of the event.
The U.S. and its allies say sanctions must remain in place until North Korea has fully implemented its promise to denuclearize. It is unclear what incentives may work as an alternative.
President Trump has eased pressure in other areas of the negotiations and plans a second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday reversed earlier administration demands for a strict timeline for denuclearization, saying that “if it takes two years, three years or five months, doesn’t matter.”
In June, the administration said it hoped to achieve “major disarmament” of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal during his first term in office.
Mr. Pompeo told the Security Council meeting on Thursday that he will travel to Pyongyang in October for negotiations on a second summit between Mr. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The trip could take place as early as next week.
Mr. Moon, who has been a key force behind the nuclear talks, met with Mr. Trump on Monday. He made a fresh push for progress toward an exchange of declarations between the U.S. and North Korea, a step seen as a key trust-building exercise.
In this step, the U.S. would agree to a formal peace treaty with North Korea in return for a list of Pyongyang’s nuclear- and ballistic-missile assets. During Monday’s meeting, Mr. Moon asked Mr. Trump to support a political declaration that hostilities on the Korean Peninsula have come to an end.
Such a statement that would be largely symbolic and would differ from a formal peace treaty, which the U.S. has been insisting shouldn’t come until the end of the diplomatic process—after the denuclearization of North Korea is complete. While it would fall short of a formal treaty, Mr. Moon has asserted that it would nonetheless be an important gesture to encourage North Korea to start taking concrete steps to dismantle its nuclear arsenal.
—Courtney McBride in Washington
contributed to this article.
Write to Jessica Donati at jessica.donati@wsj.com
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