Western countries are trying to replace a UN body that monitors compliance with international sanctions on North Korea after it was disbanded earlier this month in a blow to global nuclear non-proliferation efforts.
The eight-member panel of experts was first appointed by then-UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in 2009 to document sanctions violations for the UN Security Council as it sought to convince North Korea to abandon its illicit nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development programmes.
But mounting tensions between western countries and North Korea’s allies Russia and China over the sanctions, which can only be lifted with the unanimous support of permanent Security Council members, came to a head in March when Moscow blocked an extension of the panel’s mandate.