The 15 members of the UN Security Council had to decide the future of the UN committee that monitors international sanctions against North Korea's nuclear programme.
The United Nations began imposing sanctions on North Korea in 2006. That year, the country's first nuclear test took place. In the following years, the UN Security Council adopted more and more resolutions to tighten sanctions. The last resolution was adopted in 2017. However, that did not prevent North Korea from continuing its experiments.
The Sanctions Monitoring Committee has been in existence for 14 years. In a recent report, UN experts investigated 58 cyberattacks in North Korea that may have resulted in €2.7 billion. This money could be used, among other things, to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Extending the mandate has not been a problem at all so far. However, during the vote on extending the committee's mandate, Russia decided to use its veto power. The other thirteen members voted in favor of the resolution, and China decided to abstain from voting.
The veto does not mean that the sanctions imposed on North Korea will end, but it does mean that the Oversight Committee will disappear. The mandate expires at the end of April.
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