Analysis from organisations like the Open Source Centre has become even more vital in the wake of the expertise gap left by the 1718 Panel of Experts.
One year on, the UK deeply regrets Russia’s decision to veto the mandate renewal of the 1718 Panel of Experts.
This was a deliberate act used to obfuscate and embolden the DPRK’s unlawful pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, and to conceal Russia’s own erosion of the UN sanctions architecture, which it has a responsibility to uphold as a permanent member of this Council.
The Panel’s credible, objective and independent reporting enabled this Council and the international community to effectively monitor the implementation of UN sanctions on the DPRK.
Most importantly, the Panel helped prevent the DPRK’s unlawful and dangerous development of nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
Since Russia’s veto last year, there have been over 40 missile tests, including one intercontinental ballistic missile test and one intermediate-range ballistic missile test.
This escalation represents multiple breaches of UN Security Council resolutions, for which we have been deprived of further analysis.
Colleagues, it is obvious that Russia’s objective was to clear the path for the expansion of their military relationship with the DPRK.
The DPRK is believed to have supplied 20,000 containers of munitions to Russia, and its artillery and mortar shells account for 60% of those used in Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine.
And as we’ve heard, in the past week, Russia and the DPRK publicly flaunted their agreement to use DPRK troops as mere cannon fodder in that war.
Let me be clear, we cannot allow this brazen disregard towards UN sanctions to become normalised.
The UK will continue to work closely with partners to monitor sanctions evasion, to hold both Russia and the DPRK to account, and to call out those complicit in the DPRK’s violations of UN Security Council resolutions.
As we have heard over the course of the NPT Prepcom, this Council should stand firm in its defence of the global non-proliferation regime.
The UK remains steadfast with partners in our shared goal for the DPRK to abandon all nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.
