MIDDLE EAST/NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/SANCTIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UN: “North Korea has broken UN sanctions with a ‘massive’ increase of oil imports and coal exports, a UN report has found. The 400-page document released Monday [3-11-19] by the UN Panel of Experts on North Korea said that Pyongyang had also tried to sell weapons in the Middle East and hacked banks across the world. The report comes after the collapse of last month’s talks between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, in part due to disagreement over when to remove sanctions in exchange for steps toward Pyongyang’s denuclearization. The report said that Pyongyang rendered sanctions ineffective by increasing the number of ship-to-ship transfers it conducts at sea. Japanese officials have observed North Korean ships engaging in purported ship-to-ship transfers…North Korea’s coal sales have historically been some of the country’s most valuable exports. UN sanctions meant to punish Pyongyang for its 2017 missile and nuclear tests put a cap on the amount of coal the country was allowed to sell internationally. The measures also capped the amount of oil and energy products the country was allowed to import.”
–Joshua Berlinger, “North Korea defies UN with arms sales and oil imports, report says,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, March 12, 2019 11:41 pm