US-led sanctions monitoring groups will fail: North Korean ambassador

SEOUL: United States (US)-led efforts to form new groups monitoring sanctions on North Korea will fail, the country’s United Nations (UN) envoy said on Sunday according to state media KCNA carrying his statement.

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

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

Even if the hostile forces form a second or a third panel of experts, they will “self-destruct,” Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA.

Last month, 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”.

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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 programs.