N Korea Earned $200 Million From Banned Exports, Sends Arms to Syria, Burma—UN Report

N Korea Earned $200 Million From Banned Exports, Sends Arms to Syria, Burma—UN Report
The Lighthouse Winmore, a Hong Kong-flagged vessel suspected of transferring oil to North Korea in defiance of international sanctions, is seen in the sea off Yeosu, South Korea on Dec. 29, 2017. Yonhap via Reuters
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UNITED NATIONS—North Korea violated United Nations sanctions to earn nearly $200 million in 2017 from banned commodity exports, according to a confidential report by independent U.N. monitors, which also accused Pyongyang of supplying weapons to Syria and Burma.

The report to a U.N. Security Council sanctions committee, seen by Reuters on Friday, said North Korea had shipped coal to ports, including in Russia, China, South Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam, mainly using false paperwork that showed countries such as Russia and China as the coal origin, instead of North Korea.