The Curious Case of Marine Chain: The DPRK cyberscam behind a blockchain-powered maritime investment marketplace
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The latest report by the UN Panel of Experts on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) published on 9 March 2019 documents the various ways in which North Korea has continued, over the past year, to evade and violate international sanctions under which it is prohibited from dealing with other States due to concerns about its nuclear weapons and missile technology programmes. Among its findings, the Panel recounted “a massive increase in ship-to-ship transfers” that it says has rendered the latest round of UN sanctions “ineffective”; continued violations of the North Korean arms embargo; and a troubling account of how the leadership in Pyongyang has made use of civilian facilities, including public airports, for ballistic missile assembly and testing. The Panel also noted that financial sanctions remain some of the most poorly implemented and actively evaded measures of the sanctions regime against North Korea. With mounting pressure on financial …