North Korea is successfully evading UN sanctions with increasingly sophisticated methods, enabling the regime to import more oil, expand coal exports, sell weapons and hack into foreign banks, according to a report by a UN panel of experts.
, including deceiving global banks, insurers and commodity traders, said the U.N. panel's report, which was reviewed by NBC News and was expected to be published Monday afternoon.
According to the report, the North is also proving adept at cybertheft to secure cash, stealing funds from foreign banks with vulnerable cybersecurity software or from cryptocurrency accounts, which are particularly difficult to track. "These violations render the latest United Nations sanctions ineffective by flouting the caps on the import of petroleum products and coal oil" by North Korea imposed by the U.N. Security Council in 2017."These transfers have increased in scope, scale and sophistication," it said.
"It fooled these global regional commodity trading companies into supplying more than 57,000 barrels in a single shipment by a ship-to-ship transfer," Griffiths told NBC News.March 11, 2019The report includes photos that show the large ship pulled alongside another vessel for the oil transfer, which had an estimated value of about $5.7 million, according to Griffiths.
The U.N. panel's report, citing information from a U.N. member state, said North Korea's most important ballistic missile companies — blacklisted by the U.N. —"are extremely active in Iran," Griffiths said.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
South Korea sees signs North Korea restoring part of launch site it promised to dismantleSouth Korean intelligence agencies have detected signs that North Korea is resto...
Read more »
Movement at North Korea ICBM plant viewed as missile-related: South KoreaNew activities have been detected at a North Korean intercontinental ballistic m...
Read more »
North Korea denounces scaled-back U.S.-South Korea military exercisesPresident Trump sharply reduced the exercises, but that was not enough to keep the Pyongyang regime happy.
Read more »
North Korea food production 'lowest for a decade' - UNNorth Korea's recorded harvest was just 4.95 million tonnes last year, the United Nations said in its assessment.
Read more »
North Korea food production lowest in more than a decade, UN saysNorth Korean food production in 2018 fell to its lowest level for over a decade, leaving millions without enough to eat, according to the United Nations.
Read more »
Trump would 'very disappointed' in Kim Jong Un if North Korea is rebuilding launch siteSatellite images show North Korea started rebuilding a rocket launch site after a summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un broke down.
Read more »
North Korea maintains repression, political prison camps: U.N. expertDespite actively pursuing diplomacy on its nuclear program, North Korea continue...
Read more »
North Korea, mixing pleas and provocation, asks for food aid while hinting at rocket launchHaving come away empty-handed from the Hanoi summit, North Korea is both inching toward provocation and seeking to tug at heartstrings — taking steps toward a rocket launch while pleading for food aid, making the case that sanctions are causing its people to go hungry.
Read more »
U.S. envoy on North Korea says 'diplomacy still very much alive' with PyongyangThe U.S. special representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, said on Monday ...
Read more »