US, S Korea slam Russia for using veto to end N Korea sanctions monitoring

Russia has blocked the renewal of a panel of UN experts monitoring international sanctions on North Korea, weeks after the body said it was investigating reports of arms transfers between Moscow and Pyongyang.

The move on Thursday was met with a flurry of criticism, including by South Korea's foreign ministry, which said Russia had made an "irresponsible decision" despite its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

China abstained rather than joining Russia in the veto. All other members had voted in favour of renewing the expert panel.

The United States called the veto by Moscow a "self-interested effort to bury the panel's reporting on its own collusion" with North Korea.

"Russia's actions today have cynically undermined international peace and security, all to advance the corrupt bargain that Moscow has struck with the DPRK," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba took to social media to call the veto "a guilty plea" amid allegations that Pyongyang is aiding Moscow in its war against Kiev.

Panel's mandate to expire by May

Moscow's veto at the Security Council does not remove the sanctions on North Korea but spells the end for the group monitoring their implementation — and myriad alleged violations.

Russia's UN envoy Vasily Nebenzia said that without an annual review guaranteed to assess and potentially modify the sanctions, the panel was unjustified.

"The panel has continued to focus on trivial matters that are not commensurate with the problems facing the peninsula," Nebenzia said.

"Russia has called for the council to adopt a decision to hold an open and honest review of the Council sanctions... on an annual basis."

Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that UN sanctions on North Korea presented an obstacle to promoting dialogue and peace on the peninsula and that the penalties had not aided regional security.

"Over the years, international restrictive measures have not helped to improve the security situation in the region. On the contrary, in the absence of mechanisms to review sanctions measures in a mitigating manner, this instrument remains a serious irritant that hinders confidence-building and political dialogue," she said in a statement.

The panel's mandate expires at the end of April.

'New-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile'

The North's sanctioned nuclear and weapons development has continued, although Security Council sanctions were levelled on Pyongyang in 2016 and 2017.

Pyongyang tested a solid-fuel engine for a "new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile" last week, state media reported.

Recent cruise missile launches have prompted speculation that North Korea is testing those weapons before shipping them to Moscow for use in Ukraine.

In its latest report, issued at the beginning of March, the sanctions panel reported that North Korea "continued to flout" sanctions, including by launching ballistic missiles and breaching oil import limits.

It added that it is investigating reports of arms shipments from Pyongyang to Russia for use in Ukraine.