Despite the meet in Singapore between US President Trump and North Koreaan President Kim Jong Un, Pyongyang continues to develop its nuclear programme and is clearly violating international sanctions imposed on the country by clandestinely transferring different types of weapons and fuel, a confidential United Nations report said.

The technique of turning off tracking systems on ships, the North Korea was easily able to transport illegal ship-to-ship petroleum transfers, an activity that has “increased in scope, scale and sophistication”, media quoted the leaked report as saying on Friday.

It also said “prohibited military cooperation with the Syrian Arab Republic has continued unabated”.

“[North Korea] has not stopped its nuclear and missile programmes and continued to defy Security Council resolutions through a massive increase in illicit ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products, as well as through transfers of coal at sea during 2018,” it said.

The isolated country even attempted to sell weapons to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to the report.

UN experts were brought to notice about a July 13, 2016 letter received from a Houthi leader inviting the North Koreans to hold meetings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, “to discuss the issue of the transfer of technology and other matters of mutual interest”.

North Korea also “attempted to supply small arms and light weapons and other military equipment via foreign intermediaries” to Libya and Sudan, said the report.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo commented over the issue earlier on Saturday the process of ending North Korea’s nuclear programme would take time, but he said that he was optimistic it would be done.

It was important to maintain diplomatic and economic pressure on the North, Pompeo said, and the United States considers seriously any detraction from enforcing UN sanctions.

“I’m optimistic that we will get this done in the timeline and the world will celebrate what the UN Security Council has demanded,” Pompeo said on the sidelines of a security conference in Singapore..

“The work has begun. The process of achieving denuclearization of the [Korean] peninsula is one that I think we have all known would take some time.”

North Korea has been kept under sanctions since 2006, when the country successfully carried out its first nuclear test.

In November 2017, the country said it was successful in developing a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the United States’ mainland.

Following the crucial announcement, more sanctions were imposed by the United Nations in December.

Pompeo told while talking to reporters the US has new, reliable reports that Russia is violating United Nations sanctions by allowing joint ventures with North Korean companies and issuing fresh and new permits for North Korean guest workers.

“We expect the Russians and all countries to abide to the UN Security Council resolutions and enforce sanctions on North Korea,” he said. “Any violation that detracts from the world’s goal of finally, fully denuclearising North Korea would be something that America would take very seriously.”

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