Recent United Nations (UN) reports says North Korea has maintained and developed its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes throughout 2020 in violation of international sanctions.
The confidential document, reportedly seen and cited by Reuters on Monday, revealed that North Korea used some 300 million Dollars it got from stolen cyber hacks to fund part of the programmes.
The report by independent sanctions monitors said Pyongyang “produced fissile material, maintained nuclear facilities and upgraded its ballistic missile infrastructure” while continuing to seek material and technology for those programmes from abroad”.
The annual report to the UN Security Council’s North Korea sanctions committee comes just weeks after US President Joe Biden took office.
A State Department spokesperson said on Monday the administration planned a new approach to North Korea, including a full review with allies “on ongoing pressure options and the potential for any future diplomacy.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and former US President Donald Trump met three times in 2018 and 2019, but failed to make progress on US calls for Pyongyang to surrender its nuclear weapons and North Korea’s demands for an end to sanctions.
In the past year, North Korea displayed new short-range, medium-range, submarine-launched and intercontinental ballistic missile systems at military parades, the UN report said.
The report said an unnamed UN member state had assessed that, judging by the size of North Korea’s missiles, “it is highly likely that a nuclear device” could be mounted on to long-range, medium-range and short-range ballistic missiles.