Russia’s nuclear cooperation with N. Korea violates at least three UNSC resolutions

My final excerpt from the draft U.N. Panel of Experts report is a lengthy graf (below the fold) describing long-standing and continuing Russian assistance to, and cooperation with, some of the same scientists involved in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

It’s hard for me to understand how this is not a violation of the UNSC sanctions. Despite the fact that key scientists in designated North Korean agencies (for example, its General Bureau of Atomic Energy) were invited to do research in Russia, Russia argues that technically, it didn’t invite any designated individuals, that its own facility’s purposes are peaceful, and that North Korea “should not be excluded from fundamental science activities.”

The POE responds that “all … nuclear programmes” means what it says. I’ll helpfully insert the relevant provisions, starting with this one from UNSCR 1718 (2006):

6. Decides that the DPRK shall abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner, shall act strictly in accordance with the obligations applicable to parties under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the terms and conditions of its International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safeguards Agreement (IAEA INFCIRC/403) and shall provide the IAEA transparency measures extending beyond these requirements, including such access to individuals, documentation, equipments and facilities as may be required and deemed necessary by the IAEA;

And there is this, from UNSCR 1874 (2009):

“8.   Decides that the DPRK shall abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner and immediately cease all related activities, shall act strictly in accordance with the obligations applicable to parties under the NPT and the terms and conditions of the IAEA Safeguards Agreement (IAEA INFCIRC/403) and shall provide the IAEA transparency measures extending beyond these requirements, including such access to individuals, documentation, equipment and facilities as may be required and deemed necessary by the IAEA;

And this, from UNSCR 2094 (2013):

“5.   Condemns all the DPRK’s ongoing nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment, notes that all such activities are in violation of resolutions 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009) and 2087 (2013), reaffirms its decision that the DPRK shall abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes, in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner and immediately cease all related activities and shall act strictly in accordance with the obligations applicable to parties under the NPT and the terms and conditions of the IAEA Safeguards Agreement (IAEA INFCIRC/403);

Under Section 104(a) of the NKSEA, the Russian institute concerned would be subject to mandatory asset blocking, and possibly to criminal prosecution leading to the forfeiture of its U.S.-based assets. Unless, of course, the institute was unwise enough to have kept its funds in Euros or (may God help them) Rubles. In which case, the question would shift to which bank the Institute uses.

The POE stops short of concluding that Russia is in violation, but says it will continue to investigate. The POE is also investigating that recent report that Russia invited North Korean representatives to attend a weapons trade fair. All in all, it’s a promising candidacy for the Axis of Evil. Excerpts follow.

29. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has participated in the activities of an international intergovernmental research organization for nuclear sciences called the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, headquartered in the Russian Federation. The Chief Science Secretary of the Joint Institute informed the Panel that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was one of the countries that founded the Institute in 1956, that it may send specialists to work at the Institute’s laboratories and that its representatives may (and have to) participate in sessions of the Scientific Council. It was also stated that the government representatives should participate in activities of the supreme governing body, the Committee of Plenipotentiaries of the Governments of the 18 Member States of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. Accordingly, the Institute’s website lists Mr. Li Je Sen (or Ri Je-Son) as a member of this Committee since 1998; Mr. Kim Son Hyok as a member of the Institute’s Scientific Council and Director of the Department of Science of “the General Administration for Atomic Energy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”; and Mr. Hwan[g] Sok Hwa and Mr. Pak Ben Seb as former Scientific Council members (see annex 5). Mr. Ri Je-son, the Minister of Atomic Energy Industry, and Mr. Hwang Sok Hwa were designated by the Committee on 16 July 2009.

30. The Chief Science Secretary of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research confirmed that as at 2 January 2015, four nationals of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea were affiliated with the Institute, with their terms ending on 30 March 2015. Their information is provided in table 1 below.

31. The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research informed the Panel that representatives of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s embassy in Moscow had participated in the activities of the Scientific Council or the Committee of Plenipotentiaries as observers in recent years, but that there was no participation by designated entities or individuals. The Secretary further stated that “the problem of the growing debt of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the budget of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research became the ground for the recent decision by the Committee of Plenipotentiaries to interrupt the reception of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea specialists at the Institute.”

32. The Russian Federation informed the Panel that no designated entities or individuals were invited to the Russian Federation, that specialized training within the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research was conducted under its “international organizational” status, and that the Institute’s peaceful activities do not fall within the provisions under the resolutions, and therefore no violation of sanctions occurred. The Russian Federation also noted that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea should not be excluded from fundamental science activities.

33. The Panel recalls that under the resolutions, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is obliged to abandon all … nuclear programmes … and immediately cease all related activities. The Panel will continue its investigation.