MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2018) Pyongyang has been breaching international sanctions through illegal arms sales and disguised fuel shipments, which renders the restrictions ineffective, the still-confidential UN report on compliance with sanctions on North Korea, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, said.
According to the media outlet, the document holds that North Korea has been involved in arms sales to Syria, Yemen, Libya and other conflict zones, despite the sanctions.
The document also reportedly notes a spike in North Korea's fuel imports through transfers carried out by Russian and Chinese vessels and cites examples of coal shipments from the country to China. The shipments were allegedly organized in a way to avoid surveillance.
"These violations render the latest U.N. sanctions ineffective by flouting the caps on the [North Korea's] import of petroleum products and crude oil as well as the coal ban imposed in 2017," the report read, as quoted by the newspaper.
The news comes amid the ongoing row around the UN report, sparked by US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley's statement accusing Russia of interfering in its contents by allegedly pressuring the experts who authored it to make changes. Moscow has dismissed accusations.
