The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) failed to extend the mandate of a panel of experts that monitored the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea. The council failed to pass a resolution to extend the panel’s mandate of the Expert Panel by one year due to Russia’s veto of it.
In the resolution’s vote, 13 countries voted to pass the resolution, with Russia objecting to it and one country absenting from the vote. The panel, in place since 2009 after North Korea conducted its second test of a nuclear bomb, will now expire on April 30th.
The experts from the five permanent USNC members—China, France, Russia, the United States, and the U.K.—make up most of the panel, along with Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. The UNSC tasked the eight experts with overseeing sanctions against North Korea through publishing reports that outlined various sanctions violations by the country, such as the import of sanctioned items and luxury goods.
The potential for the panel’s dissolution would likely enable North Korea to subvert international sanctions more effectively and decrease efforts to prevent the country’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs from advancing.
