India contests UN panel report

At a time when India is hoping for NSG membership at the grouping’s ongoing plenary session in Seoul, New Delhi is battling another controversy.

India on Thursday contested a report of the “UN Panel of Experts” that deals with UN sanctions on North Korea which had made references in its report to the participation of North Korean students in courses at the Dehradun-based Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTEAP).

The UN report had said this participation “could” have implications for its proscribed activities, a reference to North Korea’s UN-proscribed activities in the missile technology and nuclear spheres.

The Indian government’s statement on Thursday blasted an article in a Gulf-based news network on the matter and said the insinuations in the article were baseless.

The ministry of external affairs said, “The (UN) report is subjective and based on the limited understanding of the expert(s) who have authored it. India has made its position clear in this regard to the UN Security Council. The topics covered in the courses offered by CSSTEAP are very general and cover basic principles in the respective areas.”

It added: “The course material offered to the participants is available in open-source. We believe these courses are unlikely to contribute in any way to a violation of the UN sanctions pertaining to DPRK (North Korea).”