The U.S. envoy to the U.N. told South Korea’s defense minister on Monday that Washington is looking for alternative ways to continue investigating North Korean sanctions breaches, after Russia vetoed a measure to extend the mandate of the U.N. panel tasked with monitoring the DPRK. 

In a meeting with Shin Won-sik in Seoul, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield expressed concern that Moscow’s move to block the renewal of the U.N. Panel of Experts could allow Pyongyang to advance its nuclear and missile development freely, the ROK defense ministry said in a press release.

Raising concerns that the Panel’s absence could lead