UN: $370m North Korean exports
Experts report on Pyongyang’s illegal trade in six months Fears Kim receiving secret aid
North Korea illegally exported coal, iron and other commodities worth at least US$270 million ($370 million) to China and other countries including India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka in the six-month period ending in early August in violation of UN sanctions.
UN experts monitoring sanctions said in a report that Kim Jong Un’s Government continues to flout sanctions on commodities as well as an arms embargo and restrictions on shipping and financial activities.
They said North Korea is also reportedly continuing prohibited nuclear activities with weaponsgrade fissile material production at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, construction and maintenance at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, and at a uranium mine in Pyongsan.
The eight-member panel of experts said it is also investigating the widespread presence of North Koreans in Africa and the Middle East, particularly in Syria, “including their involvement in prohibited activities”.
The experts said one inquiry is into “reported prohibited chemical, ballistic missile and conventional arms cooperation” between Syria and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the country’s official name. They said this includes activities on Syrian Scud missile programmes and “maintenance and repair of Syrian surface-to-air missiles (SAM) air defence systems.”
The report was made public two days before the United States has called for a vote on a new sanctions resolution. The original US draft would impose the toughest-ever sanctions on North Korea including banning all oil and natural gas exports to the country and freezing all foreign financial assets of the government and Kim.
The experts said implementation of existing sanctions “lags far behind what is necessary to achieve the core goal of denuclearisation” of the Korean Peninsula.
They blamed “lax enforcement” of sanctions coupled North Korea’s “evolving evasion techniques”.
On the export of commodities — a key source of foreign exchange for the DPRK — the experts said that following China’s suspension of coal imports from the North in February, the DPRK has been rerouting coal to other countries including Malaysia and Vietnam.
“The panel’s investigations reveal that the DPRK is deliberately using indirect channels to export prohibited commodities, evading sanctions,” the report said.
Between December 2016 and May 2017, for example, the DPRK exported over US$79 million of iron ore to China, the report said. And between October 2016 and May 2017, it exported iron and steel products to Egypt, China, France, India, Ireland and Mexico valued at US$305,713.
Kim has hosted a massive celebration to congratulate his nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country’s sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago.
South Korea had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea’s founding on Saturday, but no fresh provocations were spotted while the North held numerous events to mark the holiday. North Korea’s sudden advancement in developing nuclear weapons may be due to secret support from Iran, British officials fear, after being shocked by the speed of development.
Britain’s Foreign Office is investigating whether “current and former nuclear states” helped Kim Jong Un in his drive to mount nuclear warheads onto missiles.
Senior Whitehall sources have told the Sunday Telegraph it is not credible that North Korean scientists alone brought about the technological advances. Iran is top of the list of countries suspected of providing assistance, while Russia and even China — which shares a land border with the rogue state — are also in the spotlight. The fear is that outside influences have provided North Korea with either equipment or expertise that has moved them closer to becoming a nuclear nation.
“North Korean scientists are people of some ability, but clearly they’re not doing it entirely in a vacuum,” said one minister. Another source helping shape policy said: “For them to have done this entirely on their own stretches the bounds of credulity.”
The hope is that identifying any link could open new diplomatic avenues for exerting pressure on the regime. At the start of the year, it was estimated that North Korea would need a decade before they could launch intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. That has now been slashed to just a handful of years.
— Telegraph Group Ltd