U.N. data shows lackluster implementation of previous sanctions on N. Korea

A majority of U.N. member countries failed to submit reports on their implementation of a set of Security Council sanctions adopted in 2013 to punish Pyongyang for its third nuclear test, U.N. data showed Monday.

The record, unveiled in a report by a U.N. panel of experts, raises questions about how rigorously they will carry out a new package of sanctions that the Security Council passed last week in response to the North's fourth nuclear test and its long-range rocket launch.

According to the panel of experts' report, only 39 countries out of a total of 192 U.N. member states have so far turned in reports on how they're implementing the sanctions on the North specified in the U.N. Security Council Resolution 2094.

In addition, only eight countries -- South Korea, Japan, Belgium, Brazil, Greece, Mexico, New Zealand and Qatar -- submitted reports on their plans to carry out the resolution in time before a 90-day deadline since the resolution's adoption.

All five permanent members of the council missed the deadline. 

Russia turned in a report two days after the June 2013 deadline, and the United States and China four months later.

Britain submitted the report in January 2014 and France in January 2015, the records showed.

Last week's Resolution 2270 is the fifth Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on the North.

The previous resolutions were adopted after the North's first nuclear test in 2006, its second nuclear test in 2009, its long-range rocket launch in late 2012 and its third nuclear test in early 2013.

The latest resolution is considered the toughest ever as it requires mandatory inspections of all cargo going in and out of the North and bans its exports of coal, iron and other mineral resources, a key source of hard currency that accounts for nearly half of the country's total exports. (Yonhap)

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