Russia 'Ignoring UN Sanctions in Business with N.Korea'

Russia has ignored UN Security Council resolutions that ban the founding and running of joint ventures with North Korea, according to Washington financial analysts Sayari.

In a report released on May 30, Sayari cited Russian Federal Tax Service data as showing that the two countries are still running about a dozen joint ventures.

UNSC Resolution 2375 of November 2017 bans UN member states from running joint ventures with the North. That has resulted in the closure of most North Korean restaurants in China and other countries that were set up with North Korean money.

But the report says that the North's Korea Oil Exploration Company still holds a 25 percent stake in Yuson, a Russian oil and natural gas company.

Forty percent of Fiton Joint Russian-Korean Enterprise, a Russian drug manufacturing company, is owned by a company under the North Korean Health Ministry. And 50 percent of logging company Rosayuma Joint Venture is owned by Korea Paekma Trading Corporation in the North, while half of 50 Tisrimob Joint Venture is owned by a company under the North Korean Forestry Ministry.

"The Russian government insists that [North Korea]-linked economic activity in its territory does not violate its commitments to uphold UN sanctions... Russia's recent participation in the Pyongyang trade fair only further illustrates its interest in maintaining economic ties" to the North, the report said.

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