Envoy says US and allies are considering options “inside and outside the UN” to monitor North Korea

Seoul, South Korea — The United States and its allies are discussing options “both inside and outside the UN system” to create a new mechanism to monitor North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, the US ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday. .

Russia last month vetoed a UN resolution in a move that effectively abolished UN expert monitoring of Security Council sanctions against North Korea, leading to Western accusations that Moscow was acting to protect its arms purchases from North Korea to fuel its war in Ukraine.

“I look forward to collaborating with both the Republic of Korea and Japan, but also with like-minded (countries) in trying to develop options both within the UN and outside the UN. that the expert panel was doing to lapse,” US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said at a press conference in Seoul, using South Korea’s formal name.

Thomas-Greenfield did not provide specific details about U.S. discussions with allies and other partners, including whether an alternative monitoring regime would more likely be established through the U.N. General Assembly or with an independent entity outside the U.N.

Thomas-Greenfield met with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul on Monday and they discussed “next steps to ensure the continuation of independent and accurate reporting” of the country’s illicit weapons development activities. North Korea, according to his office.

Thomas-Greenfield said it is clear that Russia and China, which abstained from voting on the UN resolution vetoed by Moscow, will continue to try to block international efforts to maintain monitoring of UN sanctions against North Korea. She criticized Russia for violating those sanctions with its alleged arms purchases from North Korea, and China for shielding the North from accountability.

Moscow and Beijing have thwarted U.S.-led efforts to tighten U.N. sanctions on North Korea over increased ballistic missile tests since 2022, underlining a divide among the permanent members of the Security Council that has deepened over Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“I don’t expect them to cooperate or agree with any efforts we make to find another path, but that won’t stop us from finding that path in the future,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

Thomas-Greenfield also briefly addressed questions about tensions in the Middle East. When asked about the Palestinian Authority’s request for full membership in the UN, she said that a UN resolution in support of that request would not contribute to finding a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“President Biden has said categorically that we support a two-state solution to resolve the situation in the Middle East, where the Palestinians will have a state of their own and Israel will be secure in its state, and we are working on the ground to get to that place as quickly as possible. possible,” she said.

“We don’t see that making a resolution in the Security Council will necessarily take us to a place where we can find a…two-state solution in the future,” she added.

The Security Council imposed sanctions after North Korea’s first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and has tightened them over the years in a total of 10 resolutions that seek – so far unsuccessfully – to cut funds and restrict its nuclear and energy programs. missiles. The last resolution on sanctions was adopted by the council in December 2017.

The Security Council created a committee to monitor sanctions, and the mandate of its panel of experts to investigate violations was renewed for 14 years until last month.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council before last month’s vote that Western nations were trying to “strangle” North Korea and that sanctions were losing their “relevance” in preventing proliferation of nuclear weapons in the North.

In its most recent report, distributed last month, the panel of experts said it is investigating 58 alleged North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023, valued at approximately $3 billion, with the money allegedly being used to help finance the development of weapons.