Photo : YONHAP News
South Korea and 10 other nations have launched a new monitoring mechanism for sanctions against North Korea, replacing a now-disbanded expert panel under the UN Security Council(UNSC).
South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, Japanese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Masataka Okano and ambassadors from eight other countries issued a joint statement at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, announcing the launch of the Multinational Sanctions Monitoring Team.
The other participating countries are France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The new team supplants the expert panel established in 2009 under the UNSC sanctions committee after North Korea’s second nuclear test.
That expert panel was dissolved at the end of April after Russia vetoed the renewal of its mandate.
The new team operates outside the framework of the UN, and a foreign ministry official said it was launched to fill the void in monitoring North Korea’s violations of UNSC resolutions, including illegal arms trading.