On March 28, Russia blocked a US draft resolution in the UN Security Council to extend for one year the work of the UNSC's Committee 1718 on sanctions against North Korea. Its mandate expired on April 30. On May 1, 50 UN members, including the United States, Japan, and South Korea, said in a joint statement they were considering alternatives to ensure continued “objective and independent” monitoring of sanctions on North Korea after the expert panel's dissolution.
"The hostile forces may set up the second and third expert panels in the future but they are all bound to meet self-destruction with the passage of time," Kim was quoted as saying by North Korean state-run news agency KCNA.
The permanent representative called the May 1 joint statement by the US and its allies on the dissolution of the panel a "funeral oration" and urged the West to "humbly" accept the reality that international opinion has "turned its back" on them. He advised the US and its allies to deeply reflect on the failure of their hostile policy against Pyongyang "that is run through with arrogance and self-complacency."
Kim said the panel's dissolution was "a judgment made by history" for creating an "illegal, plot-breeding" organization that served as a tool for the US and Western countries to exercise hegemony.
On April 11, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said that Russia would soon submit to the UN Security Council its own draft resolution on extending the mandate of the expert panel, which will establish the need to actualize the sanctions regime against Pyongyang.