PYONGYANG, Feb 03 (Reuters): North Korea violated United Nations (UN) sanctions to earn nearly $200 million in 2017 from banned commodity exports, according to a confidential report by independent UN monitors, which also accused Pyongyang of supplying weapons to Syria and Myanmar.
The report to a UN Security Council sanctions committee, seen by Reuters on Friday, said North Korea had shipped coal to ports, including in Russia, China, South Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam, mainly using false paperwork that showed countries such as Russia and China as the coal origin, instead of North Korea.
The 15-member council has unanimously boosted sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke funding for Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, banning exports including coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood, and capping imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products.
"The DPRK (North Korea) is already flouting the most recent resolutions by exploiting global oil supply chains, complicit foreign nationals, offshore company registries and the international banking system," the UN monitors wrote in the 213-page report.
The North Korean mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the UN report. Russia and China have repeatedly said they are implementing UN sanctions on North Korea.
Syria, Myanmar
The monitors said they had investigated ongoing ballistic missile cooperation between Syria and Myanmar, including more than 40 previously unreported North Korea shipments between 2012 and 2017 to Syria's Scientific Studies and Research Centre, which oversees the country's chemical weapons programme.
A Xinhua report adds: South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump talked over phone about the Korean Peninsula issue and upcoming the Winter Olympics, the presidential Blue House said on Saturday.
Moon and Trump held a telephone conversation for 30 minutes on Friday night, agreeing to closely cooperate for the successful hosting of the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games set to kick off on Feb. 9 in South Korea's eastern county of PyeongChang.
Moon expressed his gratitude to Trump for sending a high-ranking US delegation, including Vice President Mike Pence, to the South Korea-hosted Winter Olympics.
The South Korean president said he hoped to make the PyeongChang Winter Olympics an opportunity for the inter-Korean dialogue that would last after the Winter Olympics and contribute to peace on the Korean Peninsula.
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