The United States, Japan, South Korea, and eight other countries launched a new mechanism on Wednesday to monitor the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea.
The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) was established to replace a U.N. monitoring team that was disbanded in April after Russia vetoed the renewal of its mandate, South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun said.
China abstained from the U.N. vote at the time.
Kim launched the MSMT in Seoul at a joint press conference with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, Japanese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Masataka Okano, and the ambassadors of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom….