North Korea is flouting tougher new U. N. sanctions with more ingenious tactics, circumventing trade bans by relying on middlemen and front companies, notab
UNITED NATIONS – North Korea is flouting tougher new U. N. sanctions with more ingenious tactics, circumventing trade bans by relying on middlemen and front companies, notably in Malaysia and China, a report by U. N. sanctions experts says.
The 100-page report, obtained by AFP, confirmed that North Korea’s two nuclear tests and 26 missile launches last year had allowed Pyongyang to reach “technological milestones in weapons of mass destruction capability and all indications are that this pace will continue.”
The Security Council has adopted two resolutions imposing a raft of new sanctions on North Korea, banning minerals exports and restricting banking, but the panel said implementation by U. N. member-states “remains insufficient and highly inconsistent.”
North Korea “is flouting sanctions through trade in prohibited goods, with evasion techniques that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication,” said the report, sent to the Security Council a week ago.
The sweeping new sanctions were aimed at depriving Kim Jong Un’s regime of hard currency needed to finance weapons programs, which the Security Council has said pose a threat to world security.
But the experts concluded that North Korea’s “circumvention techniques and inadequate compliancy by member-states are combining to significantly negate the impact of the resolutions.”
Only 76 out of 192 countries have reported to the United Nations on steps they are taking to uphold the sanctions, which are mandatory.
