OXFORD – International sanctions on North Korea have slowed their development of weapons of mass destruction, even though a “lukewarm” contribution from China has diluted their effect, a former UN sanctions expert said last week.

John Everard, who until November coordinated a UN Security Council panel of experts tasked with monitoring North Korea sanctions, told an audience last week in Oxford of the successes that sanctions policies have had in constraining Pyongyang’s illicit activities.

There have been “spectacular” seizures of weapons shipments originating in the North, he said, which have prevented North Korea from raising the cash needed to fund sanctioned activities.