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U.S., South Korea, and Japan Launch New Multinational Team to Monitor North Korean Sanctions
The U.S., South Korea, and Japan have launched a new Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team to oversee enforcement of sanctions against North Korea.
ND
by News Desk
2024-10-16
U.S., South Korea, and Japan Launch New Multinational Team to Monitor North Korean Sanctions

The United States, South Korea, and Japan announced the formation of a new multinational team on Wednesday aimed at monitoring the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea. This initiative comes in the wake of Russia and China's recent actions that have undermined monitoring efforts at the United Nations.

 

Named the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, the mechanism was introduced after Russia blocked the annual renewal of a U.N. panel of experts that had been overseeing the implementation of sanctions designed to curb North Korea's nuclear and missile programs for the past 15 years. China chose to abstain from the vote, further complicating the situation.

 

Composition and Objectives of the Team

The newly formed team will carry on the work of the U.N. panel, which includes issuing regular reports on sanctions enforcement. It will involve the participation of eight additional countries, including Britain, France, and Germany. The announcement was made during a joint press conference in Seoul, attended by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun, and Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano, along with ambassadors from the eight countries involved.

 

During the press conference, Vice Foreign Minister Kim emphasized the urgency of establishing a robust monitoring system, stating, "There have been many discussions about how to build an effective monitoring system that can replace the U.N. panel, but even during that process, cases of North Korea violating sanctions continued to occur." He noted that immediate action was necessary to fill the gap left by the U.N. panel.

 

Potential Impact and Future Direction

While the allied nations are exploring avenues to reinstate the U.N. framework, the new team is open to collaboration with all countries willing to assist in ensuring the implementation of sanctions. Campbell highlighted that Russia's veto of the U.N. panel was likely influenced by its illegal procurement of military equipment from North Korea for its ongoing war in Ukraine, stating, "The potential for this to be a major effort in tracking and holding to account steps that North Korea is taking across a range of provocative actions is real."

 

The formation of this new initiative may lack the international legitimacy afforded to a U.N.-backed operation, but experts believe it could monitor North Korean activities more effectively, unhindered by Moscow and Beijing’s attempts to downplay Pyongyang’s sanctions evasion at the U.N. Ethan Hee-seok Shin, a legal analyst at the Transitional Justice Working Group in Seoul, suggested that like-minded governments should also consider using sanctions to target individuals and entities in North Korea and beyond that facilitate grave human rights violations.

 

As tensions continue to escalate on the Korean Peninsula and beyond, this new collaborative effort represents a crucial step toward addressing the challenges posed by North Korea's actions and ensuring accountability in the enforcement of international sanctions.
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