Dr Aaron Arnold

"Because it is not operating under a [U.N. Security Council] resolution mandate, it will lack credibility in the eyes of many states. Unfortunately, it's more likely that it will be those states that are most at risk for being exposed to North Korea's sanctions evasion and proliferation-related activities," said Arnold, currently a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

Aaron Arnold, a former member of the United Nations Expert Panel, told Radio Free Asia (RFA) on 16 March that the new monitoring organization for sanctions violations against North Korea will face legitimacy issues. He pointed out that this organization, unlike the UN Panel of Experts, does not operate under UN Security Council resolutions, which can lead to a lack of credibility in the eyes of many countries.

“Ultimately, the dissolution of the Panel of Experts signals further decay and dysfunction of multilateralism,” said Aaron Arnold, a U.S. representative who served on the panel from 2019 to 2021. “Furthermore, without a monitoring system in place, there’s not a lot of incentive for countries to rigorously uphold their sanctions obligations.”... Last week, the Royal United Services Institute, a U.K. think tank, shared satellite imagery of a Russian-flagged vessel recently docked at a Chinese shipyard. The U.S.-sanctioned cargo ship, named Angara, has been previously spotted making at least 11 transits between North Korea and Russia since last August, believed to be carrying North Korean munitions, according to the institute.