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.
China, Pyongyang’s main trading partner and ally, a week ago suspended all imports of coal from North Korea for the remainder of the year to shore up its compliance with the sanctions resolution.
In July last year, an air shipment of North Korean military communications materiel sent from China was intercepted in an unnamed country en route to Eritrea, the report said.
The items were sold by Glocom, a Malaysia-based front company for North Korea’s Pan Systems firm, which the panel said is operated by Pyongyang’s intelligence agency.
The company has suppliers in China and an office in Singapore.
“This case demonstrates the increasingly sophisticated nature of evasion of sanctions by the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea and illustrates important and previously unknown trends,” said the report.
North Korea “was able to establish a company in a third country, building up significant international recognition, including through participation in prominent regional arms fairs and by selling high-end arms and related material in multiple countries,” it said.
The panel also investigated Egypt’s seizure in August last year of a North Korean vessel, the Jie Shun, carrying 2.3 tons of iron ore and 30,000 rocket-propelled grenades. The report did not specify the final destination of the shipment.
A bill of lading showed the North Korean-made arms were falsely described as assembly parts for underwater pumps and that the shipment originated from China.
North Korean companies and banks on the U. N. sanctions blacklist are continuing to operate “by using agents who are highly experienced and well-trained in moving money, people and goods, including arms and material, across borders,” the report said.
North Korean banks have partnered with foreign companies and seek to conceal financial activity by using foreign nationals and entities, it said.
Diplomats, missions and trade representatives have been enlisted in the effort to step up sanctions-busting.
The panel has notified Uganda that the North Korean military attache in Kampala was trying to clinch military deals in third countries, such as South Sudan.
Four North Korean officials under U. N. sanctions reside in Syria, two others in Iran and two others in Egypt, the panel said, recalling that under U. N. resolutions they should be expelled.

© Source: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/02/25/asia-pacific/north-korea-improving-evasion-u-n-sanctions-report-says/
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.

North Korea’s envoy was denied a visa.
Plans for the first contact between North Korea and the United States after President Donald Trump took office were canceled after the U. S. State Department denied a visa for the top envoy from Pyongyang, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
The talks, between senior North Korean foreign ministry envoy Choe Son Hui and former U. S. officials, were scheduled to take place on March 1 and 2 in New York but were called off after Choe was denied a visa, the Journal said.
It was not clear what led the State Department to deny the visa but North Korea’s test-firing of a ballistic missile on Feb. 12 and the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother in Malaysia may have played a role, the report said.
South Korean and U. S. officials have said they believe North Korean agents assassinated Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half brother of Kim Jong-un, on Feb. 13.
A U. S. State Department official denied so-called track two discussions had been scheduled.
READ MORE: North Korea says nuclear-capable ballistic missile test was a success
“The U. S government had no plans to engage in track 2 talks in New York,” the official said, declining comment on individual visa cases.
A South Korean foreign ministry official declined to comment on the report of the canceled meeting in New York, saying the reported plan did not involve the U. S. or South Korean government.
The meeting in New York would have been the first time a senior North Korean envoy would visit the United States since 2011 and the first contact between U. S. and North Korean representatives since Trump took office.
Choe, director general for North American affairs at the North’s foreign ministry, has previously met former U.s. officials and academics, the last time in November in Geneva for informal discussions.
Trump said in a Reuters interview on Thursday that he was concerned about North Korea’s ballistic missile tests and “it’s a very dangerous situation”. Trump did not ruling out meeting Kim at some point in the future under certain circumstances but suggested it might be too late.

© Source: http://globalnews.ca/news/3272632/united-states-north-korea-talks/
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.