North Korea Condemns UN Sanctions Watchdog’s Report as Sovereignty Violation

(MENAFN) North Korea sharply condemned a multilateral sanctions watchdog on Monday after it published a report accusing Pyongyang of illicit military collaboration with Russia. The government accused the group of infringing on the nation’s sovereign rights, according to state media.

The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), responsible for enforcing UN sanctions against North Korea, released its inaugural report on Thursday. It detailed “illegal” military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, which the group said violated UN Security Council resolutions targeting Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile activities.

In response, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement, accusing the MSMT of engaging in a “political provocation” by fabricating a report criticizing the cooperative relationship between North Korea and Russia, as reported by a local news agency.

The ministry denounced the MSMT—a body comprising 11 UN member states—as a “bogus group which has no legality in terms of existence and purpose.” It labeled the report a “wanton” breach of fundamental international legal principles such as sovereignty, equality, and non-interference in internal affairs.

“We give stern warning against the negative consequences to be entailed by its reckless acts,” the ministry declared.

Further, North Korea characterized the MSMT as a “political tool” aligned with Western geopolitical interests, asserting that “it has no justification to investigate the exercise of sovereign rights of other countries.”

The MSMT was formed last October through efforts led by the US and South Korea. It took over sanctions monitoring responsibilities after the UN Panel of Experts on North Korea was dissolved following Russia’s veto, which had previously overseen enforcement of UN sanctions on Pyongyang.

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