▲ Eric Penton-Voak, a former coordinator of the U.N. panel of experts on sanctions on North Korea, speaks at a press briefing on the outlook for international sanctions on the North in Seoul on Aug. 4, 2023. (Yonhap)

NK sanctions-ex-UN coordinator

Ex-U.N. panel coordinator says UNSC 'completely deadlocked' in imposing sanctions against N. Korea

By Yi Wonju

SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Yonhap) -- A former U.N. panel expert on North Korea said Friday the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) remains "completely deadlocked" in imposing sanctions against Pyongyang's banned weapons programs, apparently criticizing China and Russia for failing to remain impartial and vetoing sanctions.

Eric Penton-Voak, former coordinator on the Panel of Experts on U.N. Security Council sanctions against North Korea, made the remarks during a press briefing hosted by NK Pro in Seoul, stressing that all eight experts in the panel need to be "impartial and independent."

"During those two years that I was on the panel, obviously, DPRK's weapons of mass destruction programs accelerated extraordinarily while the U.N. Security Council was completely deadlocked," he said.

DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The U.N. has sought to impose additional sanctions on North Korea following Pyongyang's repeated missile provocations but their efforts were met with opposition from Russia and China, both veto power-wielding permanent members of the Security Council and close allies of North Korea.

The former U.N. panel coordinator appeared to take issue with Chinese and Russian members for failing to remain impartial in drafting reports on sanctions against North Korea.

"I'm afraid to say that two colleagues on the panel act consistently in the interests of their own countries and they misuse the principle of consensus in order to prevent the panel from reaching the conclusions it really should as an independent organization," he said, apparently referring to members from China and Russia.

Pointing it out as a "fundamental problem," he emphasized that the experts' views are "obviously influenced by their own capital cities."

The U.N. panel is comprised of experts from the five permanent Security Council members -- Britain, France, China, Russia and the U.S. -- as well as South Korea and Japan, and monitors sanctions on North Korea.

He added that the biannual report released by the panel is "inevitably and fundamentally diluted," though he highlighted the "huge quantity of valuable information" in it.

"All I would ask is that when you read the report ... I would just urge you to read it in that light, that it is actually a serious and diluted document that doesn't say what it could and should say," he added.

(END)

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]