VZCZCXYZ0005
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #0841/01 2591552
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 161552Z SEP 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7186
INFO RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL IMMEDIATE 1189
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000841 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM ETTC MCAP KN UNSC
SUBJECT: DPRK: COUNCIL EXTENDS DEADLINE FOR PANEL REPORT 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On September 14, the UN Secretariat briefed 
the Council on the establishment of the DPRK Panel of Experts 
(POE), a body mandated in UNSCR 1874 to help monitor and 
improve the implementation of UN sanctions imposed on North 
Korea.  The Secretariat explained that only two POE members 
have yet arrived in New York and that therefore the POE was 
unable to submit to the Council an interim report by the 
September 12 deadline requested in UNSCR 1874.  The chair of 
the Council's DPRK Sanctions Committee ("1718 Committee") 
suggested that the Council give the POE an additional sixty 
days to submit this report.  Japan and the UK supported this 
proposal and noted that the POE would have a role to play in 
examining specific sanctions violations.  Ambassador Rice 
also supported the chair's proposal.  She noted the POE's 
important role in helping the Committee investigate a 
recently-reported sanctions violation and also highlighted 
the September 3 letter from the DPRK Permanent Representative 
that the Secur 
ity Council subsequently referred to the 1718 Committee.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On September 14, the UN Secretariat briefed the 
Security Council in closed consultations about progress in 
constituting a UN Panel of Experts (POE) for the Democratic 
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).  UNSCR 1874, adopted June 
12, asked the Secretary-General to establish this 
seven-member team to help monitor and improve implementation 
of UN sanctions imposed on the DPRK.  Similar UN expert 
already panels exist for all of the most active UN sanctions 
regime, except for Iran. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Horst Heitmann, Director of the Secretariat's 
Security Council Affairs Division, explained to the Council 
that the Council's DPRK Sanctions Committee (the "1718 
Committee") had approved a slate of experts on August 7, 
after which the Secretariat formally contacted the experts 
and began to finalize logistics details.  The panel, he said, 
included experts from China, France, Japan, Russia, Republic 
of Korea (ROK), the United Kingdom and the United States. 
According to Heitmann, only two experts (South Korean and UK) 
have arrived in New York, with most of the rest arriving 
before the end of September.  Heitmann highlighted the fact 
that the Secretariat has not received a response to its 
communications from one of the seven members. (NOTE: The 
Secretariat has told us privately that the Chinese export 
control expert has not responded to its correspondence.  USUN 
has no reason to suspect this delay is politically motivated, 
but we are nonetheless pressing the Chinese mission to ensure 
this expert arrives promptly.  END NOTE). 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Heitmann pointed out that UNSCR 1874 had asked the 
POE to submit to the Council an interim report on its work 
within ninety days of the resolution's adoption (i.e., by 
September 12).  Given the delay in the experts' arrival, he 
said that the Secretariat recommended that the Panel be 
advised to submit its report at a later date. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Turkish Perm Rep Apakan, the new chair of the 1718 
Committee, said he believed an additional sixty days should 
be sufficient to allow the POE to prepare a comprehensive and 
detailed report that could be of great value to the Council. 
He noted that the Committee had envisioned the POE playing an 
important role in accomplishing tasks set forth in the 
ambitious program of work that the Committee adopted in July. 
 For example, Apakan observed, it would help the Committee 
review Member State reporting of their implementation of the 
relevant measures. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Japanese Perm Rep Takasu supported Apakan's 
suggestion of giving the POE an additional sixty days to 
prepare the interim report.  He added that he hoped the POE 
would play a role in investigating specific sanctions 
incidents.  UK Perm Rep Sawers also supported Apakan's 
proposal and noted that the POE already has important issues 
to deal with, namely the sanctions violation recently 
reported to the 1718 Committee by the UAE. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Ambassador Rice regretted that the POE is not yet 
fully operational, but recognized that the team would need 
more time to prepare a "comprehensive and detailed interim 
report, including recommendations on how to improve 
implementation of the relevant measures."  She noted that the 
POE already has one big item on its agenda: the sanctions 
violation reported by a Member State (UAE) to the Committee 
last month.  Rice said she hoped the Panel will help the 
Committee investigate this case thoroughly and recommend ways 
to detect and prevent future violations.  She also 
highlighted the letter the DPRK Perm Rep had sent the Council 
on September 3, noting that the Council had referred this 
 
letter to the Committee for its review as part of an 
investigation into the recently-reported sanctions violation. 
 
¶8. (SBU) At the conclusion of the session, Rice, in her 
capacity as President of the Council, confirmed that the 
Council agreed with the proposal to grant the POE another 
sixty days to finish its report.  No member objected.  She 
therefore asked the Secretariat to convey this new deadline 
to the POE. 
 
 
RICE