Colum Lynch is reporting and blogging that China has droppped its opposition to releasing the Report to the Security Council from the Panel of Experts established Pursuant to Resolution 1874 (2009):
The U.N. Security Council was preparing Tuesday to release a long-delayed report alleging that North Korea may have transferred ballistic-missile and nuclear technology to Syria, Iran and Burma, according to diplomats.
The 75-page report, whose release has been blocked for six months by China, an ally of Pyongyang, reinforces U.S. claims that North Korea has emerged as a key supplier of banned weapons materials to Washington’s greatest rivals.
A copy of the report was seen by The Washington Post.
[snip]
An earlier version of the U.N. panel report’s findings was reported by the blog Arms Control Wonk. But David Albright, a nuclear weapons expert, said the report’s formal release will be important because it places a U.N. imprimatur on allegations by Western intelligence agencies and independent experts.
“It’s significant that they are saying it,” Albright said.
I think David’s right –a leak is one thing, a formal release another. Indeed, I probably ended up with a copy because someone wanted to put pressure on China to support the formal release of the document. I recently met a UN official involved with the document who noted, maybe a little ruefully, “I see you got a copy of our report!”
What can I say? The blog has one heck of a readership.
Here is a link to the original post and the full text of the report.
Has the report been officialy released yet or is it still pending?
I am not sure.
Formal release might not necessarily mean posting on the website or, at least, promptly posting on the website. Perhaps we are counting chickens …
Eventually, the report should be released here.
It’ll be posted at the link below when it is out I am told: http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1718/panelofexperts.shtml
should be out soon…
Thank you, Unknown.
Again, this is why I love my blog. You people are fantastic.
Was it really prudent to post this? There are reasons things have embargo
Strange the report makes no mention of the Agreed Framework, alluding to it fleetingly as “a short period of cooperation”, but extensively discusses the Six-Party talks. Risks coming across as a selective reading of the history.
The Agreed Framework was recognised by a UNSC Presidential Statement (S/PRST/1994/64), so cannot be ignored as nothing to do with the UN.