North Korea is flouting tougher new UN sanctions with more ingenuous tactics, circumventing trade bans by relying on middlemen and front companies, notably in Malaysia and China, a report by UN sanctions experts says.
UNITED NATIONS: North Korea is flouting tougher new UN sanctions with more ingenuous tactics, circumventing trade bans by relying on middlemen and front companies, notably in Malaysia and China, a report by UN 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 UN 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 last week.
The sweeping new sanctions were aimed at depriving Kim Jong-un’s regime of hard currency revenue 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.
