The UN Security Council will convene a session on Wednesday to discuss North Korea and nonproliferation issues.

The UN headquarters said the Security Council is set to hold the meeting Wednesday afternoon at the request of South Korea, the United States, Britain, France, Denmark, Panama and Slovenia. 

The planned meeting is expected to address measures to counter the North’s continued violations of Security Council resolutions, as well as sanctions after the disbandment of a UN monitoring panel a year ago.
 
South Korea and Western countries have criticized Russia for vetoing the extension of the expert panel’s mandate, claiming this was a deliberate move to conceal military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. 

In October last year, South Korea and ten other countries established the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team to replace the UN expert panel, and its first report is set to be released soon.