N. Korea has not stopped nuclear, missile programmes — UN report
UNITED NATIONS, United States: North Korea has pressed ahead with its nuclear and missile programs and continues to evade UN sanctions through increased illegal ship-to-ship transfers of oil products at sea, a UN report said Friday.
In a 62-page report sent to the Security Council, the UN panel of experts also listed violations of a ban on North Korean exports of coal, iron, seafood and other products that generate millions of dollars in revenue for Kim Jong Un’s regime.
Pyongyang “has not stopped its nuclear and missile programs and continued to defy Security Council resolutions through a massive increase in illicit shipto-ship transfers of petroleum products, as well as through transfers of coal at sea during 2018,” said the report, seen by AFP.
The transfer of petroleum products to North Korean tankers at sea remains “a primary method of sanctions evasion” involving 40 vessels and 130 associated companies, it added.
The violations have rendered the latest batch of sanctions “ineffective” by flouting the cap on oil, fuel and coal imposed in a raft of UN resolutions adopted last year, it added.
North Korea also “attempted to supply small arms and light weapons (SALW) and other military equipment via foreign intermediaries” to Libya, Yemen and Sudan, said the report.
It named Syrian arms trafficker Hussein Al-Ali who offered “a range of conventional arms, and in some cases ballistic missiles to armed groups in Yemen and Libya” that were produced in North Korea.
The panel continues to investigate such military cooperation that would be in violation of an arms embargo on North Korea. — AFP