North Korea says creation of committees to monitor sanctions on country will fail

North Korea affirmed that the creation of UN expert committees to monitor the application of sanctions against Pyongyang is doomed to failure, the official North Korean news agency KCNA reported today.

“Hostile forces may set up (a) second and (a) third expert committee in the future, but they are all destined for self-destruction,” North Korean UN Ambassador Kim Song said in an English-language statement carried by KCNA. .

In March, Russia vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution that extended by one year the mandate of the committee of experts overseeing the implementation of UN sanctions against Pyongyang.

The dissolution of the committee is a “historic judgment against an illegal organization that promotes conspiracies (…) to eliminate the right to exist of a sovereign State,” said Kim Song.

North Korea has been subject to UN Security Council sanctions since 2006 due to its nuclear program, and these were strengthened several times in 2016 and 2017.

Highlighting the humanitarian situation in North Korea, Russia and China have been calling for the lifting of these sanctions since 2019, with no expiration date.

Seoul and Washington say Pyongyang is sending weapons to Russia, possibly in exchange for technical assistance for North Korea’s spy satellite program.

During a visit to South Korea in April, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield stressed the importance of ensuring that sanctions against North Korea are enforced.

Washington is working with Seoul, Tokyo and other capitals to find “creative ways” to resume monitoring sanctions, according to the ambassador.

In 2023, North Korea carried out a record number of missile tests despite sanctions.

The previous year, Pyongyang called the country’s status as a nuclear power irreversible and repeatedly stated that it will not abandon the nuclear program, which the regime considers essential for the country’s survival.