This blog post was published as part of the Global Partnership on Small Arms project, which was managed by the Small Arms Survey and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

The Global Partnership on Small Arms was a platform where stakeholders engaged in reducing or preventing illicit arms trafficking were able to interact; exchange information, experience, and knowledge; and give feedback to further their shared goals.

In response to the major threat posed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK/North Korea) to international peace and security, the UN Security Council has established a range of multilateral sanctions on the country—including an arms embargo. However, North Korea continues to systematically circumvent and evade these sanctions through a variety of means and techniques. A new resource from the Small Arms Survey provides an overview of such techniques with a view to aid stakeholders strengthen their implementation and enforcement of the sanctions regime.

For more than a decade the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), in defiance of UN sanctions, has found ways to systematically smuggle arms and other illicit goods in and out of the country. This Briefing Paper from the Small Arms Survey provides a detailed overview of how the DPRK evades sanctions by employing its diplomatic resources and exploiting key loopholes relating to transport, logistics, and proliferation finance.