Russia Waives Objections to UN Report on North Korea

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - The Russian Permanent Mission to the United Nations decided to waive its objections to the UN report prepared by an independent group of experts on sanctions against North Korea, mission's press secretary Fedor Strzhizhovskiy told reporters.

"At the current stage we see no problem in dissemination of the report in the UN Security Council," Strzhizhovskiy said. He pointed out that the group of experts had taken into account the changes proposed by the Russian mission.

"The situation around the report has once again demonstrated the importance of cooperation between the group of experts and the UN member states," Strzhizhovskiy added.

Last month, Russia has held up the publication of a report on North Korea by a UN Security Council independent panel over differences about its contents. Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia said earlier that he could not divulge details of the confidential draft compiled by the UN Security Council’s 1718 Sanctions Committee, however, he said member states were concerned about repeated Internet leaks.

On Wednesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said at the Eastern Economic Forum that Moscow would further seek easing of anti-Pyongyang restrictions at the UN Security Council.

"As North Korea takes steps on denuclearization, we believe that the UN Security Council has the authority and should address the issue of adequate easing of the sanctions regime on North Korea. We will raise this issue assuming that north Korea will also take required steps," Morgulov said.

North Korea has faced several rounds of sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests, conducted in violation of the UNSC resolutions. In response to these activities, in August 2017, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Pyongyang targeting exports of coal, iron ore, lead and seafood from the Asian nation to UN member states. In December, new sanctions against North Korea were imposed over the country's continuing missile tests.

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On June 12, US President Donald Trump and NOrth Korean leader Kim Jong-un met in Singapore, where they reached an agreement stipulating that North Korea would work toward "a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" in exchange for a freeze of the US-South Korean military drills and potential sanctions relief.

However, In three months since the Singapore summit, Pyongyang has reportedly taken steps to conceal its nuclear program.

According to the US-based media, US intelligence believes North Korea has capability to produce five to eight nuclear weapons in 2018, and the pace is unchanged from the assessment made prior to the summit.

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