North Korea is Still Pursuing Its Missle Programs Says UN

North Korea is continuing to develop its nuclear and missile programs, which is a violation of international sanctions, according to a confidential report released by the United Nations. The report is prepared after 6 months of extensive research by independent experts and submitted it to the United Nation’s North Korea Sanctions Committee of the Security Council recently.

According to the report, North Korea is not only developing the missiles but also selling conventional weapons to other countries, which may fuel violence.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is said to be monumental in keeping pressure on Pyongyang, has said, “I've also emphasized the importance of maintaining diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea, to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearization of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as agreed to by Chairman Kim”. Pompeo also said that he had called for “the complete shutdown of illegal ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum destined for North Korea”

According to the report, Pyongyang is importing petroleum and crude oil as well as coal, a ban on which is imposed last year through illegal ship to ship transfers of over 500,000 barrels of refined petroleum products as well as oil and coal at sea in violation of the Security Council resolution. This also means that all the member countries of the United Nations, can now immediately halt all transfers to ‎North Korea. 

The United States is also accusing Russia of helping North Korea in evading United Nations Security Council resolutions. Mike Pompeo said, “We have seen reports that Russia is allowing for joint ventures with North Korean firms and granting new work permits to North Korean guest workers. This is a serious issue and something that we will discuss with Moscow”. US Treasury department had also imposed a sanction on a Russian Bank for helping in the transaction for a North Korean bank.

In April, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had traveled to the North Korean capital Pyongyang in order to carry forward with the outcome of the historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean chief Kim Jong-un in Singapore. But it is said that the meeting of Pompeo with his counterparts in North Korea has not gone well. Another meeting between the leaders of the two countries in early July, which again took place in Pyongyang, made the relationship worse.

North Korea then said that the attitude of the US is regrettable and not in the spirit of the two leaders' June 12 summit in Singapore. During Pompeo’s visit to North Korea, a statement was released by a state-run news agency where it has said, “The US is fatally mistaken if it went to the extent of regarding that the (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) would be compelled to accept, out of its patience, the demands reflecting its gangster-like mindset”. 

If things go on like this, it predicts that we still have a long way to go in realizing the reality of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.