Russia blocks UN expert panel on North Korea nuclear program

Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution to extend a panel of experts that has reported on North Korea’s development of its nuclear arsenal for 15 years, underscoring the increasingly close ties between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Reports by the panel of experts inform decisions on international sanctions established by the Security Council in a series of resolutions aimed at barring North Korea from developing into a nuclear-armed state.

North Korea has repeatedly defied Security Council resolutions and continues to develop nuclear warheads and missiles that would carry them.

Thirteen members of the Security Council voted in favor of the proposed extension, which was introduced by the U.S. China abstained, while Russia — which wields veto power — blocked its adoption.

The move to bar a one-year extension of the panel, which will expire on April 30, comes at a time when the relationship between Russia and North Korea has reached new heights.

The U.S. and its close allies in Asia — Japan and South Korea — accuse North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of providing ammunition to help Russia with its assault on Ukraine in exchange for aid.

“Moscow has undermined the prospect of the peaceful, diplomatic resolution of one of the world’s most dangerous nuclear proliferation issues,” Robert Wood, the alternate U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said after the vote. John Kirby, spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, called Russia’s vote a “reckless action” that “further undermines critical sanctions” in response to North Korea’s nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches.

Japan and South Korea said the veto by Russia was regrettable.

But Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said that by casting a negative vote, Moscow is standing up against the “increasingly brazen invocation” of a nuclear threat by Washington and its allies against Pyongyang.

“Such a dangerous turn of events in the region affects the fundamental interests of the Russian Federation in the area of national security,” Nebenzya said, contending that the work of the panel of experts is “increasingly being reduced to playing into the hands of Western approaches.”

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