Whistle-blowers at the United Nations patent agency say their concerns that computer shipments to North Korea may have violated sanctions were stifled for years.
Now one of them has taken his case to Secretary of State John Kerry, prompting the U.S. to press for an investigation into whether the whistle-blowers had experienced retaliation.
The U.S. is trying to hold the U.N. to greater account as it pushes the organization to become more transparent about shortcomings in governance and better police sanctions against rogue regimes. At the center of the debate is the World Intellectual Property Organization, whose mandate includes helping governments create patent systems, allowing it to send technical equipment to sanctioned countries such as North Korea and Iran. Critics including former Justice Department official John Yoo argued that the computers could be used to develop nuclear weapons.