N Korea weapons going global without UN monitoring

It may not have attracted much attention in recent months with global attention focused elsewhere. But the international sanctions monitoring regime on North Korea has been disbanded, raising concerns about the unimpeded flow of North Korean weapons to global hotspots from Ukraine to Gaza.

Enforcement of United Nations sanctions against North Korea has actually been eroding for years. The final coup de grace came in March when Russia vetoed the renewal of a committee known as the Panel of Experts, which was tasked with monitoring and reporting on North Korean sanctions violations.

While UN sanctions are technically still in force, and the United States, European Union, Australia, Japan and other countries still abide by them, Russia and China do not.

With no enforcement oversight in place anymore, North Korea will now be able to ship its weapons and other black-market goods to its allies – most notably Russia, China, Iran and Syria – with less worry of repercussions.

Elaborate efforts to dodge sanctions

Since 2006, the UN has passed a number of resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear program. In recent years, though, North Korea has tried to find inventive new ways to get around them.

For example, North Korea has bought a number of ships that it uses to disguise its trading activities through front companies. It operates the ships under “flags of convenience”, which arouse less suspicion in international waters, before eventually taking direct ownership of them under North Korean flags.

The Panel of Experts reported in 2023 that the time between the acquisition of the ships and the reflagging of them as North Korean has been decreasing. This means the government is expending less effort to