US should impose further restrictions in order to keep an eye on North Korea’s nuclear program

After China and Russia blocked the resumption of monitoring efforts, the US ambassador to the UN said on Friday that she wanted to find a new approach to guarantee sanctions compliance with North Korea by next month.

According to Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Washington and its allies are considering a number of possibilities from both within and outside the UN to replace the panel of experts that has been overseeing the imposition of sanctions meant to halt North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs for the last 15 years.

China did not vote in favor of the panel’s yearly renewal last month, while Russia abstained.

When asked whether the US and its allies could create a replacement by the end of April, when the mandate of the existing panel ends, Thomas-Greenfield responded to reporters in Tokyo by saying, “That would be the best thing to start next month.” I’m not sure how quickly we’ll move it. That’s my hope, however.

Our goal is to take action at the UN General Assembly. She stated, “We are looking at options outside of the UN, including under the G7’s auspices or with think tanks or research entities. We are also pushing the [UN] Secretariat through the Secretary-General to do something out of his office.”

According to Thomas-Greenfield, the US and its allies, who were advocating for a new monitoring system, would consider having several teams take over the present panel’s duties.

There could be more than one choice. In order to get the information we want, we may need to consider two or three distinct choices,” the speaker said.