And until North Korea acts on its pledge to denuclearize... it looks like tough sanctions will stay in place... especially after a recent UN report revealed that North Korea has been dodging UN sanctions.
Our Cha Sang-mi has the details.
North Korea is successfully getting around UN sanctions, aimed at pressuring the regime to abandon its nuclear arsenal and ICBMs, by pushing forward with its petroleum imports and illegal ship-to-ship transfers.
A UN panel of experts released a 400-page document on Monday that said Pyeongyang has been illegally trying to sell small arms and weapons to several countries including Yemen and Sudan and has been hacking banks and insurance companies around the world to accelerate its coverage for vessels involved "in illegal ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products and coal."
The report said ship-to-ship transfers have "increased in scope, scale, and sophistication with more than 50 vessels and 160 associated companies under investigation."
The UN Security Council had unanimously passed Resolution 2397 in December of 2017 to cap Pyeongyang's annual crude oil imports at 525-thousand tons and petroleum products imports at 500-thousand barrels.
The U.S. State Department welcomed the report.
In a press statement on Tuesday, the deputy spokesperson, Robert Palladino, hailed the report for its "timely, relevant, and impartial analysis" and stressed that international unity in imposing such sanctions continues to hamper the North's ability to continue to produce illegal weapons of mass destruction and sends a clear message to the regime that it will remain economically and diplomatically isolated until it denuclearizes.
The report comes after last month's second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Vietnam's capital, where no agreement was reached on sanctions relief in exchange for the North's denuclearization.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.
