Anchor: Russia is suspected to have shipped a large volume of oil to North Korea in violation of United Nations Security Council sanctions against the regime's nuclear weapons development programs. While accusing Moscow of the latest violations of UNSC mandates, Washington said it will announce more punitive measures to stop nuclear proliferation.
Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: Washington says Russia is shipping refined petroleum to North Korea at levels that violate nuclear sanctions on the regime. 

White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby on Thursday accused Russia of violating the UN Security Council mandates.

[Sound bite: John Kirby - Strategic Communications Coordinator, White House National Security Council] 
“In March alone, Russia shipped more than 165-thousand barrels of refined petroleum to the DPRK. Given the close proximity of Russian and North Korean commercial ports, Russia could sustain these shipments indefinitely.” 

The amount is nearly a third of the annual 500-thousand barrel cap on refined petroleum to North Korea.

[Sound bite: John Kirby - Strategic Communications Coordinator, White House National Security Council]  
"Just last week, the UN's DPRK panel of experts released a report that definitively confirms the use of DPRK Hwasong-11 series missiles against Ukraine. By disbanding the panel of experts, Russia is also attempting to obscure its violations of binding Security Council resolutions, at the risk of emboldening Pyongyang to take increasingly aggressive and provocative actions that just destabilize the Korean peninsula further."

Russia in March vetoed the renewal of a UN watchdog, which monitored the implementation of sanctions on North Korea for 15 years.

The U.S. State Department said the U.S. and its partners, including South Korea, will announce new sanctions this month to deter arms and petroleum transfers between North Korea and Russia.

As the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee’s Panel of Experts was officially disbanded earlier this week, Seoul, Washington and Tokyo are also working on devising alternative ways to monitor violations of nuclear and ballistic missile sanctions on North Korea. 
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.