<SYSTEM_TASK:>
Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
<END_TASK>
<USER_TASK:>
Description:
 def mon_status_check(conn, logger, hostname, args):
 """ A direct check for JSON output on the monitor status. For newer versions of Ceph (dumpling and newer) a new mon_status command was added ( `ceph daemon mon mon_status` ) and should be revisited if the output changes as this check depends on that availability. """

    asok_path = paths.mon.asok(args.cluster, hostname)

    out, err, code = remoto.process.check(
        conn,
        [
            'ceph',
            '--cluster={cluster}'.format(cluster=args.cluster),
            '--admin-daemon',
            asok_path,
            'mon_status',
        ],
    )

    for line in err:
        logger.error(line)

    try:
        return json.loads(b''.join(out).decode('utf-8'))
    except ValueError:
        return {}