Pyongyang slams monitoring group’s report on N. Korea-Russia military cooperation

North Korea on Monday denounced a monitoring group on the enforcement of U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang for issuing a report on military cooperation between the North and Russia, calling the move a violation of a state’s sovereign rights.

The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) on Thursday issued the first report detailing illegal military cooperation carried out between North Korea and Russia in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions against Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

The chief of the external policy office at North Korea’s foreign ministry said the MSMT committed a “political provocation” by fabricating a report taking issue with cooperative ties between the North and Russia, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Calling the MSMT a “bogus group which has no legality in terms of existence and purpose,” the official said the report is a “wanton” violation of international legal principles centering on sovereignty equality and non-interference in others’ internal affairs.

“We give stern warning against the negative consequences to be entailed by its reckless acts,” the North’s official said in a statement carried by the KCNA.

North Korea said the MSMT is a “political tool” operating in line with the West’s geopolitical interests, stressing, “It has no justification to investigate the exercise of sovereign rights of other countries,” according to the KCNA.

In response, South Korea’s foreign ministry defended the MSMT’s activities as legitimate and in line with the international obligations to enforce and monitor compliance with U.N. sanctions against North Korea.

The ministry noted that North Korea-Russia military cooperation is a “clear violation” of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning arms trade with North Korea, calling such resolutions legally binding for all U.N. member stages.

It rejected the North’s claim of a sovereignty violation as an “absurd” argument that disregards the authority of the security council and the international obligation to comply with its resolutions.

The MSMT was established in October last year with the initiative of South Korea and the United States to continue the sanctions monitoring of North Korea following the disbandment of the U.N. Panel of Experts on North Korean sanctions monitoring due to Russia’s veto.