According to an excerpt of a confidential United Nations report reviewed by Reuters on Saturday, North Korea continued to expand its nuclear and ballistic missile programs last year. Also, cyberattacks on cryptocurrency exchanges were a major source of cash for Pyongyang.
On Friday evening, independent sanctions monitors delivered their yearly report to the United Nations Security Council’s North Korea sanctions committee.
“Although no nuclear tests or launches of ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) were reported, DPRK continued to develop its capability for the production of nuclear fissile materials,” the experts wrote.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is North Korea’s official name (DPRK). The United Nations Security Council has long prohibited it from conducting nuclear tests or launching ballistic missiles.
Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs
“Maintenance and development of DPRK’s nuclear and ballistic missile infrastructure continued, and DPRK continued to seek material, technology, and know-how for these programs overseas, including through cyber means and joint scientific research,” the report said.
North Korea has been subject to United Nations sanctions since 2006. Security Council has ratcheted up over time to target money for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Pyongyang’s missile testing has been a “marked acceleration,” according to the sanctions monitors.
North Korea launched nine ballistic missiles in January, according to the US and others. It is the most in a single month in the country’s weapons of mass destruction and missile programs’ history.
“DPRK demonstrated increased capabilities for rapid deployment, wide mobility (including at sea), and improved resilience of its missile forces,” the sanctions monitors said.
A request for comment from North Korea’s mission to the UN in New York was not immediately returned.
Cyberattacks and Illicit Trading
North Korean hackers continue to target financial institutions, cryptocurrency firms, and exchanges, the monitors said. Also, adding that “cyberattacks, particularly on cryptocurrency assets, remain an important revenue source” for the country.
“According to a member state, DPRK cyberactors stole more than $50 million between 2020 and mid-2021 from at least three cryptocurrency exchanges in North America, Europe, and Asia,” the report said.
The monitors also mentioned a report by cybersecurity firm Chainalysis. North Korea launched at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms last year, stealing roughly $400 million in digital assets.
In 2019, the United Nations sanctions monitors reported that North Korea used widespread and increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. It was to earn an estimated $2 billion for its weapons of mass destruction programs.
North Korea’s rigorous ban in response to the COVID-19 pandemic meant “illicit trade, including in luxury goods, has largely ceased.”
U.N. Security Council has banned North Korean exports including coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood, and capped imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products over the years.
“Although maritime exports from DPRK of coal increased in the second half of 2021, they were still at relatively low levels,” the monitors said.
“The quantity of illicit imports of refined petroleum increased sharply in the same period, but at a much lower level than in previous years,” the report said. “Direct delivery by non-DPRK tankers to DPRK has ceased, probably in response to COVID-19 measures; instead, only DPRK tankers delivered oil.”
The humanitarian situation in North Korea “continues to worsen,” according to the report. The monitors said this was most likely due to the COVID-19 blockage. But lack of information from DPRK makes it difficult to determine how much UN sanctions were making civilians unintentionally suffer.