China and Russia submitted a draft proposal to U.N. Security Council (UNSC) nations last Friday calling for the relaxation of North Korea-related sanctions, citing the absence of nuclear and long-range missile testing by Pyongyang over the last four years.

The draft proposal is the first one the two countries have put forward to weaken UNSC sanctions on the DPRK since Dec. 2019. The number of sanctions on North Korea snowballed significantly during its major nuclear and missile tests in 2017.

The proposal comes amid South Korea-led efforts to get the U.S. and other nations to