The veto underscores a growing rift between Russia and the United States and its Western allies since Moscow invaded Ukraine. US officials also accuse North Korea of transferring weapons to Russia for its war effort. Both Russia and North Korea have denied the allegations.
“With this veto, Russia has gone from an international spoiler to an outlaw when it comes to nuclear nonproliferation and ballistic missile enforcement,” Hugh Griffiths, the committee's former coordinator, told The Washington Post. “The world is now being told that the UN-banned North Korean nuclear weapons program is somehow okay.”
Since its establishment in 2009, the Independent Panel of Experts has been responding to the UN sanctions imposed on North Korea since 2006 in response to North Korea's nuclear and missile activities. Monitoring the implementation of sanctions. The UN will monitor the effectiveness of those sanctions and developments in North Korea's illicit activities in cyber and weapons proliferation, oil smuggling and more. The committee reports twice a year to the Security Council.
The tenure of the committee ends on April 30.
Although the committee lacked enforcement powers, it served as an important intelligence agency and clearinghouse for information on North Korea's activities in violation of international sanctions. The vote will not affect UN sanctions on North Korea, which remain in place.
The group, in its latest report, accused Pyongyang of engaging in cyberattacks that generated about $3 billion to fund its weapons programs.
“It's almost comparable to annihilation [surveillance camera] We must avoid being caught red-handed,” South Korean Ambassador to the UN Hwang Joon-kook said during the UN meeting.
“Today, we witnessed another setback in the authority of this supreme body and the international non-proliferation regime. A permanent member of the Security Council and depositary of the Non-Proliferation Treaty has completely abdicated its responsibility,” Hwang said.
In recent years, the UN has struggled to enforce economic sanctions on North Korea. The Security Council is divided. China and Russia, North Korea's biggest economic lifeline, have questioned the effectiveness of the council's sanctions aimed at curbing Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. In recent weeks, many North Korea watchers had hoped that Russia might finally pull the plug on the group's mandate.
“Moscow has undermined the prospect of a peaceful, diplomatic solution to one of the world's most dangerous nuclear proliferation issues,” US Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood said during the meeting.
China did not participate in the referendum. 13 other Security Council countries voted in favor of the group's extension.
Russia's UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya criticized the group's work, saying it was “increasingly playing into the hands of Western attitudes, reprinting biased information and analyzing newspaper headlines and shoddy photos.”
Oh Joon, a former South Korean ambassador to the United Nations, said in an interview that even if the group is disbanded, each member state will be able to report violations to the Security Council because the U.N.
“Although the Panel of Experts has not been renewed, the sanctions regime on North Korea is still in place and will continue to monitor violations through various means,” Oh said.
Griffiths noted that one of the group's important functions is to provide an independent assessment of companies and individuals that violate financial sanctions on North Korea or support its proliferation networks. That information was used by banks and insurance companies to freeze and freeze the assets of those individuals and companies verified as helping North Korea violate international sanctions, he said.
“The impact is devastating,” Griffiths said. “Without the group's biennial reporting, dozens of global banks and insurance companies now lack the gold standard reports used to deny proliferation networks access to the global financial system.”
