Sanctions delay N Korea nuke program -UN
18 May PTI
United Nations: North Korea is still trying to import and export
nuclear and ballistic missile-related items but financial and trade
sanctions are slowing progress on development of their prohibited
weapons, UN experts say in a new report.
Key parts of the expert panel's report, obtained yesterday by the
Associated Press, provide further information on North Korea's
attempts to evade four rounds of increasingly tough UN sanctions aimed
at reining in its development of nuclear weapons and the ballistic
missiles to deliver them.
While the imposition of sanctions has not halted these programs, the
panel said, “it has in all likelihood considerably delayed the (North's)
timetable, and through the imposition of financial sanctions and the
bans on the trade in weapons, has choked off significant funding which
would have been channelled into prohibited activities.”
The report to the UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions
against North Korea recommended imposing sanctions on four additional
North Korean companies and 11 individuals.
The council discussed the experts’ report on Thursday and it will be
up to members to decide whether they are added to the sanctions
blacklist.
To increase pressure on Kim Jong Un's regime, the United States and
the European Union have gone beyond UN sanctions and imposed even
tougher financial measures against North Korea. China, which is
Pyongyang's closest ally and economic lifeline, supported the UN
sanctions. In a sign of growing discontent with the North, the state-run
Bank of China Ltd., one of the country's largest, halted business
earlier this month with a North Korean bank accused by the US of
financing Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs.
The panel said North Korea “has continued to defy the international
community in a series of actions which has heightened concerns about its
intentions.” It cited the North's ballistic missile launch on December
12, its third nuclear test on February 12, and its declaration that it
would reactivate nuclear facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.
“The DPRK has continued its efforts to import and export items relevant
to missile and nuclear programs and arms,” the panel said, using the
initials of the country's official name, the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea. The report listed North Korean sanctions violations
over a five-year period including the seizure of aluminium alloys
suspected to be nuclear related in August 2012, and the seizure of
missile-related items bound for Syria in May 2012.
|