N Korea pursuing nuke programme

North Korea is pressing ahead with its nuclear weapons programme while evading sanctions, a United Nations report said, following a series of recent test-launches that have been downplayed by US President Donald Trump.

The reclusive regime has declared a moratorium on nuclear blasts and long-range missile launches, and last year said its Punggye-ri atomic bomb test site would be dismantled as it was no longer needed.

But the report by a panel of experts, published Thursday, said that despite these moves, Pyongyang’s development of nuclear warheads had not stopped.

“The nuclear programme of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea continues to operate, notwithstanding the absence of nuclear testing and the closure of the test site at Punggye-ri,” it said.

North Korea is under heavy US and UN sanctions over its nuclear programme.

The UN panel said it had received assessments from member states indicating Pyongyang had breached an annual cap of 500,000 barrels of refined petroleum through “unabated” ship-to-ship transfers in the first four months of this year.

Trump and Kim agreed to restart working-level dialogue during an impromptu meeting at the Demilitarised Zone dividing North and South Korea in June, but those talks have yet to begin.