By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N.-blacklisted North Korean shipping firm has renamed most of its vessels in a bid to disguise their origin and continues its illicit shipments in violation of United Nations sanctions, according to a U.N. experts report seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
The U.N. Security Council's Panel of Experts on North Korea, which monitors implementation of sanctions on Pyongyang, also said in the 76-page report that North Korea "continued to defy Security Council resolutions by persisting with its nuclear and ballistic missile programs."
North Korea is under United Nations sanctions due to its nuclear tests and missile launches. In addition to an arms embargo, Pyongyang is banned from importing and exporting nuclear and missile technology and is not allowed to import luxury goods.
The council last July blacklisted the shipping firm Ocean Maritime Management Company (OMM) for arranging an illegal shipment on the Chong Chon Gang ship, which was seized in Panama and found to be carrying arms, including two MiG-21 jet fighters, hidden under thousands of tonnes of Cuban sugar.
"Following the designation of OMM ... (North) Korea acted in order to evade sanctions by changing the registration and ownership of vessels controlled by the Company," the report said.
"Thus far, 13 of the 14 vessels controlled by OMM have been renamed, their ownership transferred to other single shipowner companies (with names derived from the ship?s new names) and vessel management transferred to two main companies," it added.
The report said OMM worked with individuals and entities based in countries like Brazil, China, Egypt, Greece, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, Russia, Singapore and Thailand.
The panel recommended that the council's sanctions committee blacklist 34 OMM entities (shell companies), including Chongchongang Shipping Co, Amnokgang Shipping, Biryugang Shipping and others. It also recommended sanctioning OMM vice president Choe Chol Ho, Chongchongang Shipping president Kim Ryong Chol and three Chongchongang directors.
It noted that North Korean diplomats, officials and trade representatives played key roles in illegal weapons and missile deals. They often were involved in illegal funds transfers.
The panel also said North Korean intelligence agents aided the movement of money believed to be linked to weapons transactions.
It said agents of the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), North Korea's main intelligence agency, had worked at international organizations and were using those positions to support activities aimed at skirting sanctions.
It cited as an example the French government's decision to freeze assets of Kim Yong Nam, an RGB officer working under cover as an employee at UNESCO, the U.N. cultural and scientific organisation in Paris, and his son and daughter. His son Kim Su Gwang, also an RGB officer, was working at the U.N. World Food Programme.
The panel said Kim Young Nam's daughter, Kim Su Gyong of the Korean United Development Bank, "was engaged in financial activities under false pretences in order to conceal the involvement of her country."
The panel also opened its first inquiry into the use of drones. Between October 2013 and March 2014, South Korea found wreckage of three drones it determined were from North Korea and had been spying on military facilities.
The Security Council has banned the supply, sale or transfer of complete armed or surveillance drones with a range of at least 300 km (186 miles). The panel said it was unclear if the recovered drones were acquired abroad or made in North Korea.
(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Chris Reese, G Crosse)