Russia’s veto of the Panel of Experts was a calculated move to obscure the DPRK’s unlawful pursuit of weapons of mass destruction: UK statement at the UN Security Council

This Council is entrusted with the responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

Yet two years ago, Russia deliberately undermined that mandate by vetoing the DPRK Panel of Experts, an act that has hollowed out our collective ability to respond to the clear and growing threat from the DPRK's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

That veto was not an isolated procedural decision.

It was a calculated move to obscure the DPRK's unlawful pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and to conceal Russia's own systematic erosion of the UN sanctions architecture, which, as with all UN Member States, it is duty-bound to uphold.

Since Russia's veto, the DPRK has carried out approximately 80 ballistic missile launches and expanded key facilities, funded by an increasingly sophisticated cybercrime.

Without the panel, we have been deprived of crucial Security Council resolution violation monitoring, analysis, and oversight.

In vetoing the panel, Russia also cleared a path to expand its military relationship with the DPRK. Pyongyang has supplied more than 11,000 troops to Russia's illegal war against Ukraine, along with munitions and missiles.

In return, the DPRK has enjoyed Russia's patronage, provision of critical goods through arms-for-oil exchanges, and gained increased technical and military capabilities from its combat experience.

Russia has also recklessly called DPRK's denuclearisation a 'closed issue'.

We reaffirm our full commitment to non-proliferation obligations.

At this year's NPT Review Conference, we are calling on all UN members to encourage the DPRK to dismantle its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, to re-engage in meaningful dialogue, and to return to full NPT compliance.

We urge Russia to recommit to our collective non-proliferation obligations.

Mr President, as we have heard today, the DPRK continues to be innovative in circumventing sanctions, utilising emerging AI technology, advance maritime spoofing techniques, and ship-to-ship transfers to transport coal and iron ore.

We must remain equally agile in our response, drawing upon the breadth of our collective responsibilities and capabilities.

We welcome ongoing Member State efforts to fill the monitoring and implementation information gap, including through the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team reports.

We call on the DPRK to refrain from further provocations, to engage meaningfully in dialogue, and to take concrete steps towards complete denuclearisation and peace on the Korean peninsula.

And I call on Russia, and all Council Members with influence on the DPRK, to allow this Council to reunite on this vital issue of peace and international security and let us get back to work.