The United Nations believes that North Korea has "continued to enhance its nuclear and missile programs" despite not having conducted a nuclear test or an intercontinental ballistic missile launch since late 2017.

According to a report submitted last week to the UN Security Council North Korea sanctions committee obtained by Reuters on Monday, cash-strapped Pyongyang has managed to fund its weapons of mass destruction programs through cyberattacks.

The report said the cyber actors, under the direction of the North's top military intelligence agency, have generated an estimated two billion dollars from "widespread and increasingly sophisticated" cyberattacks on banks and cryptocurrency exchanges.

It added that attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges have allowed Pyongyang to "generate income in ways that are harder to trace and subject to less government oversight and regulation than the traditional banking sector."

The North Koreans are also believed to have used cyberspace to launder the stolen money.

Since 2006, the Security Council has imposed various sanctions on the North to choke funding for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The report said, however, that North Korea continues to violate sanctions through illicit ship-to-ship transfers and procurement of WMD-related items and luxury goods.

The bi-annual report is expected to be adopted in early September, after a review by the Council members.

[Photo : YONHAP News]