United Nations expert panel in its statement said that North Korea has modernised its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles by flaunting UNs sanctions, using cyberattacks to help finance its programmes and continuing to seek material and technology overseas for its arsenal.

The expert panel monitoring sanctions on the Northeast Asian nation said in a report sent to Security Council members Monday that North Korea's "total theft of virtual assets from 2019 to November 2020 is valued at approximately USD 316.4 million," according to one unidentified country.

The panel said its investigations found that North Korean-linked cyber actors continued to conduct operations in 2020 against financial institutions and virtual currency exchange houses to generate money to support its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes.

In its weapons development, the experts said, Kim Jong Un's government has also produced fissile material and maintained its nuclear facilities.

"It displayed new short-range, medium-range, submarine-launched and intercontinental ballistic missile systems at military parades," they said. "It announced preparation for testing and production of new ballistic missile warheads and, development of tactical nuclear weapons ... and upgraded its ballistic missile infrastructure." The panel recommended that the Security Council impose sanctions on four North Korean men: Choe Song Chol, I'm Song Sun, Pak Hwa Song, and Hwang Kil Su.

The Security Council has imposed increasingly tough sanctions on North Korea since its first test explosion of a nuclear device in 2006. It has banned most of the country's exports and severely limited its imports, trying to pressure Pyongyang into abandoning its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

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