‘North Korea nukes intact’

Testing facilities to prevent strikes

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 6, (AP): North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs “remain intact” and its leaders are dispersing missile assembly and testing facilities to prevent “decapitation” strikes, UN experts said in a new report.

The experts’ report to the Security Council, seen Tuesday by The Associated Press, says the country continues to defy UN 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 US 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 US mainland.

“The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs remain intact,” the experts said.

“The panel found that the DPRK is using civilian facilities, including airports, for ballistic missile assembly and testing with the goal of effectively preventing ‘decapitation’ strikes,” the report said. It also “found evidence of a consistent trend on the part of the DPRK to disperse the assembly, storage and testing locations.”

The experts said they are continuing to investigate companies, entities

Oktavi said by text message.

The sentence was lighter than the oneyear jail term sought by the prosecutor on July 28 last year.

DUP Leader Arlene Foster leaves Stormont after talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Feb 6. Following political talks in Northern Ireland Wednesday, Prime Minister May plans to meet with European leaders in Brussels on Thursday seeking changes to the so called Irish backstop, before Britain leaves the EU on

upcoming March 29. ( AP)

and individuals in Asia that are on the UN sanctions blacklist and “clandestinely procured centrifuges for the DPRK’s nuclear program” – and that attempted to sell “a wide range of military equipment to armed groups and governments in the Middle East and Africa.”

The panel painted a picture of continuing wide-ranging efforts by North Korea to evade UN sanctions.

A huge increase in ship-to-ship transfers “render the latest United Nations sanctions ineffective by flouting the caps on the DPRK’s import of petroleum products and crude oil as well as the coal ban imposed in 2017 by the Security Council in response to the DPRK’s unprecedented nuclear and ballistic missile testing,” the experts said.

One unnamed country said North Korea obtained more than the cap of 500,000 barrels of refined petroleum products in 2018, but another unnamed country questioned the figure, the experts said.

They also said that “global banks and insurance companies continue to unwittingly facilitate payments and provide coverage for vessels involved in ever-larger, multimilliondollar, illegal ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products, as well as an increasing number of ship-to-ship coal transfers and attempted transshipments.”

The panel said ship-to-ship transfers involve “increasingly advanced evasion techniques.” These include ship identity theft,” false Automatic Identification System transmissions, physically disguised North Korea tankers, illegally changed vessel names, night transfers, and the use of additional vessels for trans-shipment of prohibited items, it said.

The panel said it inspected seized vessels engaged in prohibited coal trading and documented “ship identity laundering.”

In addition, it said, “the world’s largest container shipping line continued to unwittingly transport prohibited items” seized by unnamed countries.

“This is an unfair decision ... I was forcibly brought to the court, no lawyers provided,” Taqaddas told the court, accusing the prosecutors of torturing her three times and trapping her in the country.

Waher Tarihorang, an official at the prosecutors’ office who oversaw the case, denied using violence and said prosecutors had “the right to take forcible action to bring her to court” after Taqaddas missed several earlier court dates.

Her sentencing had been postponed several times because she was sick and also when authorities said she had checked out of a hotel and could not find her. (AP)

Asian-Americans mark New Year:

As Asian-Americans across the US mark the Lunar New Year on Tuesday, they can celebrate by eating Mickey Mouseshaped tofu, sporting a pair of Year of the Pig-inspired Nike shoes and snacking on pricey cupcakes.

In recent years, the Lunar or Chinese New Year, which people around the globe are ringing in Tuesday, seems to have achieved all-American status.

Major companies are celebrating - and capitalizing - on a holiday that at its heart is about being with loved ones and wishing for prosperity and good luck.

Between now and Feb 17, Disney California Adventure Park is offering “Asian eats.” Nike is issuing a limitededition Chinese New Year shoe collection. (AP)