North Korea Flaunts UN Sanctions, Earned Nearly $200m (£141m) by Exporting Banned Commodities

North Korea earned nearly $200m (£141m) last year by exporting banned commodities in breach of international sanctions, a UN report says.

The confidential report by a panel of experts said several countries including China, Russia and Malaysia had failed to stop the illegal exports.

It said there was evidence of military co-operation with Syria and Myanmar.

Pyongyang is subject to sanctions from the US, UN and EU over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

But the report, which was submitted to the UN Security Council and seen by news agencies, said the North "continued to export almost all the commodities prohibited in the resolutions... between January and September 2017".

The report said several unnamed multinational oil companies were being investigated for their alleged role in supplying petroleum products to North Korea.

It said shipments of coal had been delivered to China, Malaysia, South Korea, Russia and Vietnam in breach of sanctions using "a combination of multiple evasion techniques, routes and deceptive tactics".

The expert panel accused North Korea of "exploiting global oil supply chains, complicit foreign nationals, offshore company registries, and the international banking system".

China's embassy in North Korea denied flouting Security Council sanctions, but said in a statement that the two neighbours had maintained "normal trade exchanges". It said Chinese food, fruit and household products were still being sold in North Korea.