NEW YORK, Oct. 30, 2009 (Kyodo News International) -- The U.N. expert panel set up to assist the implementation of sanctions on North Korea began formal operations Friday.
Six of seven panel members attended a meeting convened by the U.N. Security Council's sanctions committee on North Korea.
The expert panel has been established under Resolution 1874, which the Security Council adopted on June 12 in response to North Korea's second nuclear test on May 25.
The panel is to play an auxiliary role in implementing the penalties the sanctions committee worked out following the nuclear test.
Kyoto University graduate school professor Masahiko Asada, the panel member representing Japan, told reporters after the closed meeting that the participants had a ''good'' discussion. He is an expert on arms trade control and the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Asada and six other members were selected from the five permanent Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Japan and South Korea.
Turkish Ambassador to the United Nations Ertugrul Apakan, who chairs the sanctions committee, described the meeting as ''useful.'' But he declined to elaborate, citing the confidential nature of the proceedings.
A U.N. diplomatic source said the seven panel members have already begun work on an individual basis, aiming to compile their first report in mid-November.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon named the seven members in the summer and the panel was initially to have started work in September. But the Chinese representative quit and the selection of a new representative for the country took time, delaying the panel's first meeting until Friday.
In mid-July, the sanctions committee worked out a new set of sanctions on North Korea, imposing a travel ban on five officials and asset freezes on five entities for their involvement in nuclear weapons and missile development programs. The entities were in addition to three the committee designated in April.
U.N. members are also reportedly considering expanding a list of individuals and entities subject to sanctions depending on new information from member states.
The expert panel is tasked with collecting information and analyzing the implementation of the sanctions. It can recommend that either the Security Council or the sanctions committee take action if it deems their efforts to punish North Korea insufficient.
The sanctions committee was set up after the Security Council adopted Resolution 1718 in October 2006 following Pyongyang's first nuclear test.
Resolution 1874 calls for an expanded freeze on the assets of North Korean entities and individuals to prevent the provision of financial services and transfer of financial assets from contributing to North Korea's nuclear, ballistic missile and other programs related to the development of weapons of mass destruction.
