Fool Russia and China Once...
There are a whole host of reasons progress is slow on a North Korea resolution in the Security Council. Japan is angry. China and Russia are worried about cargo inspections and rising tensions near their borders. And U.S. influence in general...not at an all time high, to say the least. In principle, though, there shouldn't be a problem. Russia says that the DPRK's nuclear test was unacceptable, and China even went as far as to call for "punitive" measures.
Let me add one more reason why we don't have a Security Council resolution to the list: China and Russia want to make sure Bolton doesn't hijack and publicly misinterpret any agreed resolution, as he did earlier this summer. A quick refresher: China and Russia held out on a Security Council resolution until they were sure that it included no reference to Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter. After the resolution was passed, Bolton claimed it was a Chapter 7 resolution anyway - despite the absence of any reference in the text and despite Chinese and Russian opposition.
No doubt, Russia and China want to avoid any recurrence of this kind of "gotcha" diplomacy and will resist anything with loopholes or ambiguities that Bolton can interpret his own way. Will Bolton's stunt earlier this summer block progress on a resolution on its own? Probably not. Is it a stumbling block? Almost certainly.
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