UN experts: Nkorea defying sanctions

UNITED NATIONS — North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs “remain intact” and its leaders are dispersing missile assembly and testing facilities to prevent “decapitation” strikes, U.N. experts say in a new report.

The experts’ report to the Security Council, seen Tuesday by The Associated Press, says the country continues to defy U.N. economic sanctions, including through “a massive increase in illegal ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products and coal.”

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — the country’s official name — also continues to violate an arms embargo, a ban on luxury goods and financial sanctions, the experts said.

And the panel said it investigated “the DPRK’S sophisticated cyberattacks” against multiple countries “to evade financial sanctions.”

The report was sent to council members as U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing for a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. At their June summit in Singapore, Trump promised “security guarantees” to Pyongyang and Kim recommitted to the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

But there were no signs in the experts’ report that Kim has taken any steps toward eliminating his nuclear arsenal or intercontinental ballistic missiles, which he boasted could reach the U.S. mainland.