The communist country incorporated “both ballistic and guidance technologies and used both solid and liquid propellants” in its missile tests, the experts added, the AFP news agency reported.
“The new technologies tested included a possible hypersonic guide warhead and a maneuverable re-entry vehicle,” the panel said.
North Korea also demonstrated “increased capabilities for rapid deployment, wide mobility (including at sea), and increased resilience of its missile forces.”
The experts noted that North Korea “continued to seek material, technology and knowledge for these programs abroad, including through cyber means and joint scientific research.”
A year ago, the panel said North Korea, which has tested six atomic bombs since 2006, had modernized its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles despite UN sanctions.
That 2021 report also assured that the Asian country had used cyber attacks to help finance its programs and continued to seek foreign material and technology for its arsenal, including in Iran.
“Cyber attacks, particularly on cryptocurrency assets, remain a major source of revenue” for North Korea, experts said in the new report.
In recent months, North Korea has tested various weapons systems and threatened to lift a four-year moratorium on tests of more serious weapons, such as nuclear blasts and intercontinental ballistic missile launches.
North Korea saw a record nine missile launches in January, and recently tested a hypersonic missile under development and a submarine-launched missile.
The Security Council imposed sanctions on North Korea after its first nuclear test in 2006 and tightened them in response to subsequent tests and the continued development of its increasingly sophisticated nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The panel of experts said that due to North Korea’s full lockdown over the coronavirus, a “historically low” level of goods and people entered the country last year.
Legal and illegal trade, including in luxury goods, “has largely ceased,” even though cross-border rail traffic resumed in early January, it added.
He also explained that North Korea remains capable of evading sanctions and illicitly importing refined oil, accessing international banking channels, and carrying out “malicious cyber activities.”
UN sanctions ban North Korea’s coal exports, and experts said in the new report that although coal exports by sea increased in the second half of 2021, they “were still at relatively low levels.”
“The amount of illicit imports of refined oil increased sharply in the same period, but at a much lower level than in previous years,” the experts reported, adding that North Korea also continues to evade maritime sanctions “through financial networks.” .
While the humanitarian situation in the country continues to worsen, the panel said the almost complete lack of information on North Korea makes it difficult to determine the “unintended humanitarian consequences of UN sanctions affecting civilians.”
Source: Ambito
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