North Korean Sanctions Report

Global Nampo

On May 31, the UN's 1718 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Sanctions Committee met to discuss its latest annual report from the Panel of Experts (PoE) assisting the Committee.* The report was circulated to Council members in mid-May and approved for publication June 11. On June 24th, the report and fact sheet were, without objection from China, released publicly.

The 133-page report concludes that the DPRK continues to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. "In both its export and import of goods under sanctions," the DPRK uses "a variety of techniques to circumvent national controls, indicating that the imposition of sanctions has hampered its arms sales and illicit weapon programs." The majority of sanctions non-compliance incidents brought to the attention of the Panel involve movements of illicit goods by sea. Yet, the PoE believe that the sanctions are having an impact and are causing significant delays to Pyongyang's plans.

Most significant, paragraph 50 states that "Diplomats of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or officials travelling on diplomatic or service passports, have also been involved in numerous violations of the arms embargo." The paragraph 51 urges nations hosting North Korean embassies, missions or trade offices "to exercise enhanced vigilance over DPRK diplomatic personnel so as to prevent such individuals from contributing to the DPRK’s prohibited programmes or activities, or to the evasion of sanctions."

The report mentioned incidents involving Pyongyang's officials acting in countries such as Ukraine, Austria and the Republic of Congo ranging from attempts to obtain classified information, to conducting illicit activities out of a diplomatic office and violating arms embargoes.

The POE recommends designating four entities and 11 people for blacklisting.They include the new North Korea Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry, the Munitions Industry Department of the Central Committee of the Korean Workers' Party, the State Space Development Bureau and the Hesong Trading Corp.The individuals include high ranking officials affiliated with the various entities, as well as two individuals from Ukraine and one from Kazakhstan.

Resources

30 May 2013, Meeting of the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee, What's in Blue

24 June 2013, Fact Sheet compiling certainmeasures imposedby Security Council Resolutions1718(2006), 1874(2009), 2087(2013), and 2094(2013)

Chronology on Sanctions and the UN regarding DPRK 

3 May 2013, Military and Security Developments Involving the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 2012, US Department of Defense

March 2013, UN Security Council Resolutions on North Korea, Arms Control Association

*On March 7th, almost four months in advance of the scheduled expiry of the PoE, the Council adopted resolution 2094 renewing its mandate until 7 April 2014, but deciding that the PoE should still submit a final report in accordance with the original reporting schedule of resolution 2050.)