New groups monitoring sanctions on North Korea will fail, says its UN envoy

SEOUL — Efforts led by the US and other Western countries to form new groups to monitor sanctions on North Korea will fail, the country's UN envoy said on May 5, according to state media KCNA.

Ambassador Kim Song made the comment in response to a joint statement the US and its allies issued this week in a call to continue the work of a UN panel of experts monitoring longstanding sanctions against Pyongyang for its nuclear weapons and missile programmes.

Earlier in 2024, Russia vetoed the annual renewal of the panel amid US-led accusations that North Korea has transferred weapons to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

"The hostile forces may set up the second and third expert panels in the future, but they are all bound to meet self-destruction with the passage of time," KCNA quotes Kim as saying in a statement.

In April, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield visited the Demilitarised Zone, a heavily fortified border between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war, and urged Russia and China to stop rewarding North Korea for its bad behaviour.

Her trip came after Russia rejected the annual renewal of the multinational panel of experts that has over the past 15 years monitored the implementation of UN sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.

US and Asia allies push for new panel to monitor North Korea sanctions