‘Serious questions about North Korea sanctions’: Leaked UN report raises doubts about whether measures against Pyongyang have had any effect

Despite multiple rounds of sanctions to penalise North Korea for undertaking its prohibited nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches, the country continues to advance its efforts, calling into question the United Nations sanctions regime, according to excerpts of a UN report.

The report also mentions a drone found on a South Korean island bearing a resemblance to Chinese-made drones and recommended expanding a ban on unmanned aerial vehicles, currently limited under previous Security Council resolutions.

The recommendation could put pressure on China, North Korea’s main supporter and chief supplier of goods, which appears reluctant to step up measures for fear of heightening regional tensions. The report is to be presented to the Security Council next month.

The report argues that North Korea has been “effective” in evading sanctions laid out by past resolutions, the first of which was imposed nearly a decade ago, after its first nuclear test. It also calls for blacklisting several more individuals and entities and increasing dissemination of information about the various sanctions in place.

“Given the stated intentions of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, its continued efforts to enhance the scope of its nuclear and missile programmes, as well as to seek international acceptance and legitimacy for these prohibited programmes, there are serious questions about the efficacy of the current United Nations sanctions regime,” the report says, referring to the country’s official name.