Anchor: North Korea has reportedly raked in over 270 million dollars in illegal gains due to loopholes in UN sanctions, prompting the UN Security Council to seek tougher sanctions that would allow the use of military force on North Korean smuggling vessels on the high seas.
Kim In-kyung has the details. 
 
Report: According to the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, an expert panel on North Korea for the UN Security Council reported that Pyongyang earned over 270 million dollars, or 300 billion won, of foreign currency by selling coal, iron and zinc to China, despite a UN resolution banning North Korean exports of those resources late last year.
 
In its recent report to the UNSC, the panel said that when China announced its decision to halt coal imports from North Korea in February, Pyongyang started exporting its coal to other countries like Malaysia and Vietnam.
 
The panel said that the UN sanctions were severely damaged by the member nations' lax implementation along with the North’s improvement in skills to avoid them.
 
The panel's report is expected to have a significant impact on the imminent voting of a new U.S.-drafted UN resolution against the North.
 
The new sanctions reportedly includes a measure that would allow UN member nations to use military force on North Korean smuggling vessels on the high seas.
 
The draft is also said to propose a ban on purchasing North Korean textile exports and hiring North Korean laborers in an aim to block the country's foreign currency sources.
Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News.

[Photo : ]