The following is the Clarification by Panel of Experts of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on NK News article of Feb. 15, 2022 made public today by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

“The Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation wishes to make public the clarification on NK News article ‘North Korean spy ran hotels, casinos and travel agency in Cambodia’ of 15 February 2022, made by the Panel of Experts of the UNSC established pursuant to Resolution 1874 (2009) through Cambodia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York as follows:

‘Dear Mr. Ambassador,

Thank you for your email. I have read your Mission’s note verbale, and the NK News article of 15 February on the case of Mr Kim Chol Sok, in detail.

Like you, I am extremely frustrated by unauthorized leaks of the Panel’s forthcoming report to the media. The report remains confidential; it is still in draft form, and is currently under review by the member states on the 1718 Committee before its formal submission to the Security Council late next week. I would like to stress that no-one on the Panel has spoken to the media about the contents of our report; neither have we shared any part of it with the media.

We cannot publicise any part of our draft report until it has been approved by the UN Security Council. However, I wish to assure you that the content of the report reflects precisely what Cambodian authorities have told the Panel about Mr. Kim Chol Sok and his activities, as well as the Cambodian investigation and actions taken, in sober and accurate terms. I’m afraid I cannot comment on any of the other claims made in the NK News report, or on the bona fides of the contributors to it. I can very well see why Cambodian authorities would be concerned at some of the tone of the article. Please be assured that the Panel has greatly valued its cooperation with the Cambodian authorities on this case, and would do nothing to endanger future such cooperation by making such unfounded claims in its own report.’

Source: Agency Kampuchea Press