A new multinational organization to monitor sanctions against North Korea has started its official operations, about a year after Russia rejected the annual renewal of a UN panel of experts that had overseen the implementation of sanctions against the North. 

According to Seoul’s foreign ministry on Friday, South Korea and ten other countries held an inaugural meeting of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team in Washington on Wednesday. 

The eleven nations launched the team in October after the dismantlement of the UN Panel of Experts on North Korea in April last year due to Russia’s veto. 

The multilateral team operates outside the UN, but is meant to continue the UN panel’s work, issuing regular reports on sanctions enforcement.

The first report is likely to be published in the first half of this year.