Russia rewards Kim Jong Un by vetoing a U.N. panel that monitors nuclear-weapons sanctions.
May 2, 2024 at 5:45 pm ET
Some Republicans may not see how the war in Ukraine affects interests far beyond that country’s borders. But Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping certainly do.
On Tuesday the United Nations panel to monitor North Korean sanctions expired. It did so because in March Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution to extend its mandate. Russia was the only nation on the 15-member Security Council to oppose the extension—though China pointedly abstained.
The panel was created in 2009 to ensure that sanctions imposed on Pyongyang because of its nuclear program are monitored and enforced. In a joint statement after Russia’s veto, the U.S., France, the U.K., Japan and South Korea accused Russia of killing the panel because Mr. Putin worries it might report “Moscow’s own violations of Security Council resolutions.”
The world had a fresh reminder this week, when the U.N. sanctions monitor said a missile recovered from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv was a North Korean Hwasong-11 ballistic missile. This is on top of 10,000 containers of military munitions the Kim Jong Un regime has delivered in support of Russia’s war effort. The fear is that Moscow may also be helping Pyongyang gain access to the international banking system—another end run around international sanctions.
Though the sanctions remain, the panel’s demise makes violations harder to monitor and enforce. America’s most determined enemies—Russia, China, North Korea and Iran—are working together because they know that a defeat for Ukraine helps strengthen their hand against the West. Mr. Putin’s payoff to Mr. Kim is the first of more to come.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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Author: brianpeckford
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