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N. Korea flouts sanctions, earning $200 mln from banned exports: UN
UNITED NATIONS, United States, Feb 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – North Korea is
flouting sanctions by exporting coal, iron, steel and other banned
commodities, earning nearly $200 million in revenue last year, a UN report
said Friday.
A UN panel of experts also found evidence of military cooperation by North
Korea to develop Syria’s chemical weapons programs and to provide Myanmar
with ballistic missiles.
North Korea “continued to export almost all the commodities prohibited in
the resolutions, generating nearly $200 million in revenue between January
and September 2017,” said the report by the experts seen by AFP.
Coal shipments were delivered to China, Malaysia, South Korea, Russia and
Vietnam by ships using “a combination of multiple evasion techniques, routes
and deceptive tactics,” said the report.
The Security Council last year adopted a series of resolutions to tighten
and expand exports bans aimed at cutting off revenue to North Korea’s
military programs.
The United States led the push for tough economic sanctions after North
Korea’s sixth nuclear test and a series of ballistic missile launches that
raised fears that the US mainland could soon be within reach.
Seven ships have been barred from ports worldwide for violating UN
sanctions with coal and petroleum transfers, but the experts said much more
must be done to confront “these rampant illicit activities.”
The panel found that North Korea “is already flouting the most recent
resolutions by exploiting global oil supply chains, complicit foreign
nationals, offshore company registries, and the international banking
system.”
– Arming Syria, Myanmar –
Syria and Myanmar are continuing cooperation with North Korea’s KOMID
corporation, the country’s main arms exporter, which is on a UN sanctions
blacklist, the report said.
The panel uncovered more than 40 previously unreported shipments from
North Korea between 2012 and 2017 to front companies for Syria’s Scientific
Studies Research Council, also known as CERS, a key institute for Syria’s
chemical program.
The investigations reveal “substantial new evidence” concerning
Pyongyang’s military cooperation with Damascus, including at least three
visits by North Korean technicians to Syria in 2016.
A visit by a North Korean technical delegation in August 2016 involved the
“transfer of special resistance valves and thermometers known for use in
chemical weapons programs,” said the report.
A member-state that was not named told the panel that North Korean
“technicians continue to operate at chemical weapons and missile facilities
at Barzei, Adra and Hama” in Syria, said the report.
Syria however told the panel that there were no North Korean technicians
in its territory and that the only experts it was hosting from the country
were involved in sports.
A member-state, which was not named, also notified the panel that Myanmar
had received “ballistic missile systems from (North Korea) in addition to a
range of conventional weapons, including multiple rocket launches and
surface-to air missiles”.
North Korean diplomats, in particular trade representatives, continue to
provide logistical support for arms sales and help organize exchanges for
military technicians, it said.
While sanctions have been significantly broadened, this “expansion of the
regime is yet to be matched by the requisite political will” to implement the
measures, the experts said.
The panel of experts said 2018 offered a “critical window of opportunity
before a potential miscalculation with disastrous implications for
international peace and security.”
BSS/AFP/MRI/0823 hrs