The United States, South Korea, Japan and eight other countries formed a new multilateral team to monitor and report on violations of U.N. sanctions on North Korea, the countries said in a joint statement.

The United States and its allies are pressing ahead with efforts to enforce UN sanctions on North Korea, despite what they describe as a lack of cooperation from Russia and China. VOA’s Bill Gallo joined a Canadian military flight on the front lines of those efforts,

The U.S. and its allies are “alarmed” by North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats as well as its increasing military support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday, but couldn’t confirm Ukrainian claims that North Korean soldiers were sent to fight for Moscow.