UNSC has not yet agreed to release report on North Korea

The United Nations Security Council on May 17 failed to agree on the publication of a final report by an independent panel of nuclear experts on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's violations of UN sanctions.

Speaking to reporters after a closed-door meeting of the Security Council, Portuguese Ambassador to the United Nations Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral said "there was still no consensus on making public the report on North Korea's violations of UN sanctions" when the document was presented to the Security Council on May 13.

A session of the United Nations Security Council. Illustration photo: THX

Meanwhile, diplomatic sources said that Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Li Baodong has asked for more time to consider the issue.

This final report indicates that North Korea can enrich uranium "fairly quickly" to the level that can make a nuclear bomb.

A majority of Security Council members have called for the 81-page report to be made public to increase transparency and better enforce sanctions imposed to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program.

The independent committee includes nuclear experts from the five permanent members of the Security Council: Britain, France, Russia, the United States and China, as well as experts from Japan and South Korea.

According to VNA