A United Nations report stated that North Korea will continue during the year 2023 to develop nuclear weapons and produce nuclear fissile materials, and it is also evading the sanctions imposed on it by the organization with the aim of depriving it of the funding it uses in nuclear programs and ballistic missile programs.
In a yet-to-be-published report, independent sanctions monitors wrote in a report to the UN Security Council: “After a record level of cyber thefts in 2022, valued at an estimated $1.7 billion, reports indicate that North Korean hackers continue to successfully target cryptocurrency and other digital assets.” financial exchanges around the world.
The observers, who report to the council twice a year, have previously accused North Korea of resorting to cyberattacks to help fund its nuclear and missile programmes. North Korea, for its part, denies allegations of hacking or other cyber attacks.
North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
North Korea has been under United Nations sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs since 2006.
Over the years, these measures have been tightened, but the Security Council is now finding it difficult to maintain consensus in light of pressure from China and Russia to ease the measures to persuade Pyongyang to return to talks aimed at denuclearization.
Observers noted the continued illegal export of coal and the existence of a wide variety of measures to evade sanctions.
“Although the country’s borders remain largely closed, the volume of trade has increased, mainly due to the resumption of rail traffic. A large variety of foreign goods has rapidly reappeared,” the observers wrote in a summary of the report, due to be published in the coming weeks. They added that they were continuing to investigate the illegal import of luxury goods.
The monitors said they were also investigating allegations that North Korea exported military communications equipment and ammunition and “possible cases of arms sales or other types of military support to member states.”
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2023-08-11 02:26:18
