South Korea to ensure UN sanctions enforcement on North Korea continues

SEOUL: South Korea will make efforts to ensure that UN sanctions enforcement on North Korea will continue even though the UN monitoring panel is ending after Russia's veto on extending its mandate, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday.

The UN Panel of Experts monitoring sanctions against North Korea's illicit weapons programs is set to end Tuesday (New York time), after Moscow rejected a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution meant to renew the mandate for the monitoring panel for another year, Yonhap news agency reported.

China, one of the five permanent UNSC members with veto power, abstained from voting.

"Although the UNSC monitoring panel ends, the sanctions committee on North Korea still stands," Lim Soo-suk, foreign ministry spokesperson, said in a briefing.

"The government will step up efforts to ensure the implementation of the UNSC sanctions resolutions on North Korea, with close coordination with the international community," Lim said.

Various alternatives have been under discussion to replace the monitoring panel, Lim said, adding that Seoul will seek ways with like-minded countries to build a more effective mechanism.

During a visit to South Korea earlier this month, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the top US envoy to the United Nations, said the United States will work with South Korea to explore "creative" and "out of the box" ways to find an alternative to the experts' panel, even outside of the UN system.