UN report catalogues North Korea’s evasion techniques that enable it to ‘flout sanctions’
UN member states should “exercise heightened vigilance” over North Korean diplomats engaged in commercial activities, according to report
North Korea is evading international sanctions with a sophisticated network of overseas companies, enabled partly by its continued access to the international banking system, according to a forthcoming UN report.
North Korea is under heavy UN sanctions and a strict arms embargo designed to impede the development of its banned nuclear and missile programmes. The UN panel of experts, which produced the 100-page draft report, was created to investigate reported infringements of those sanctions.
[North Korea] is flouting sanctions ... with evasion techniques that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication
“Designated entities and banks have continued to operate in the sanctioned environment by using agents who are highly experienced and well-trained in moving money, people and goods, including arms and related material, across borders,” the report says.
UN member states should “exercise heightened vigilance” over North Korean diplomats engaged in commercial activities, it says, because some may be providing financial support to illegal networks.
“[North Korea] is flouting sanctions through trade in prohibited goods, with evasion techniques that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication,” the report says.
It details a previously unknown interdiction of North Korean-made military communications equipment destined for Eritrea in July last year.
The interdiction was the second time North Korean military equipment bound for Eritrea had been intercepted, indicating an ongoing arms trade between the two countries, the report said.