2023-05-05 18:13:10
The work of a special group of experts, which at the UN monitors the implementation of sanctions against the DPRK, is in danger of paralysis: Russia and China do not want to renew the mandate of the coordinator of this mechanism, Briton Eric Penton-Voak, considering him biased. In March, a group led by Mr. Penton-Voak released a report alleging that North Korea was supplying Russia with weapons. Moscow and Pyongyang categorically deny such cooperation. The United States and its Western allies accuse the Russian Federation and China of “obstructionism.”
If the issue of Eric Penton-Voak’s mandate is not resolved by the end of May, then the UN panel of experts on sanctions against the DPRK will probably no longer be able to perform its functions. At the same time, just a month and a half ago, all members of the UN Security Council – including the Russian Federation and China – voted to extend the mandate of the group itself until April 30, 2024.
But the controversy around the figure of the coordinator of the mechanism seems to be a dead end. According to sources specializing in North Korean issues publication NK News, Russia and China differed from the US, UK and France in assessing the work of Eric Penton-Voak. The interlocutors of the portal call the disagreements unprecedented. Because of this, the group of experts, whose work he coordinates, has already found itself on the verge of paralysis: its members have temporarily lost access to the UN building, and soon their passes may be completely canceled, and phones and e-mail blocked.
The North Korea Sanctions Monitoring Group of Experts was established in 2009 (UN Security Council Resolution 1874). It includes eight specialists whose candidatures are approved by the UN Secretary General. The main task of this structure is to provide information support to the UN Security Council Committee on sanctions against the DPRK (established in 2006 in accordance with resolution 1718). This committee includes all members of the Security Council, and, unlike a group of experts, it can make decisions that are binding.
At the same time, in the committee (unlike the situation in the group of experts), the Russian and Chinese representatives have the right to veto. Experts play more of an advisory role. Among other things, they issue reports twice a year on how well international sanctions against Pyongyang are being enforced.
The last report of the group (it came out in March) caused criticism in Moscow. “The coordinator must strictly ensure that the content of the reports submitted to the UN Security Council by a group of experts meets the high standards of evidence of violations of sanctions and strict methodology,” recalled an informed source of “Kommersant” in the state structures of the Russian Federation. “At the same time, in the last March report of the group under Under pressure from the Americans, the coordinator, with the support of Western colleagues, insisted on including unconfirmed reports of arms supplies from the DPRK to Russia in the document. This was unimaginable before.”
The report does indeed talk about the export of weapons from North Korea to the Russian Federation, although the relevant data are called unconfirmed. “Since September 2022, US officials have made public statements that ammunition (artillery shells, infantry rockets and missiles) was exported from the DPRK to the Russian Federation. These claims have been consistently denied by the DPRK and Russia, the review said. In January 2023, the US government released images that allegedly show infantry rockets being delivered to the Russian Federation by train. As part of their investigation, the team analyzed satellite imagery of a train that traveled from the Russian Federation to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on November 18, 2022. Investigations are ongoing.”
At the same time, the report contains a note that one of the members of the group (his name and country of origin are not given) did not agree with the above formulations, considering them “premature”.
Earlier, official representatives of the Russian Federation and the DPRK repeatedly called reports about the supply of ammunition from Pyongyang to Moscow unfounded and unreliable. “Among the main functions of the group coordinator is to ensure interaction with other experts in a democratic and inclusive manner. Obviously, Eric Penton-Voak did not cope with the duties assigned to him, which was the reason for the serious objections of the Russian and Chinese delegations regarding his reappointment as a coordinator, ”said the interlocutor of Kommersant in Russian government agencies.
According to him, the situation around the Briton is not unprecedented: earlier, the coordinators of the group left their post without serving the prescribed five-year term. “In general, given the fact that Russia and China on March 23 supported in the UN Security Council the extension of the mandate of the group of experts until April 30, 2024, the position of the Western permanent members of the Security Council – Britain, the United States and France – clinging to the candidacy of Penton-Voak, looks strange and can cause paralysis of the work of the group, ”the interlocutor of Kommersant insists. At the same time, the source urges not to dramatize the situation around the expert group, since before its creation in 2009, the committee itself “effectively performed the functions of a supervisory body for the implementation of resolutions” for three years.
The United States considers the position of Russia and China on the North Korean problem “obstructionist.” This was stated at a regular meeting of the Security Council on the subject of the DPRK, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
“Three UN member states refuse to engage in good faith diplomacy: the DPRK, which continues to ignore our many proposals for dialogue, China and Russia, whose obstructionism in the council encourages the DPRK to launch ballistic missiles with impunity,” Ms. Thomas-Greenfield announced. “China and Russia will say you that they do not protect the DPRK. But their actions speak louder than words.”
There are currently ten UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea designed to limit Pyongyang’s ability to develop its nuclear and missile programs. Last year, the United States and its allies, in response to North Korean military tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles, introduced a new resolution designed to further tighten economic sanctions against the DPRK. Russia and China, however, did not support this initiative. Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya then noted that the previously adopted resolutions “hit first of all the lives of ordinary North Koreans.” And he warned that further tightening of sanctions “is not only futile, but also extremely dangerous in terms of the consequences of such measures.”
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