Where’s the money coming from for North Korea’s nuclear programme?
Many of its trade channels have been closed, but Pyongyang still has its illegal arms sales and counterfeit ‘supernotes’
Just days after the United Nations passed a resolution to impose yet more sanctions on North Korea, the hermit nation fired another ballistic missile over Japan.
The UN Security Council on Monday unanimously agreed to adopt a US-drafted resolution to ban textile exports from North Korea and restrict shipments of oil products to the country. Pyongyang responded by saying the United States would “suffer the greatest pain” for its role in the ruling.
While the aim of the sanctions is to choke North Korea’s finances, its repeated missile launches and nuclear explosions suggest it is not yet out of funds. But where exactly is the money coming from?
Weapons sales
According to a UN report published last year, North Korea has a lucrative trade in the sale of unreported items such as encrypted military communications equipment, air defence systems and satellite-guided missiles.
Last summer, Egypt intercepted a North Korean ship carrying 30,000 PG-7 rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons parts, the report said.
A separate report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said North Korea earned US$802 million between 1996 and 2016 from the sale of weapons to countries such as Iran, Syria and Libya.