A U.N. expert panel's report says North Korea is still trying to import and export nuclear and ballistic missile-related material but financial and trade sanctions are slowing progress on their prohibited weapons programs.
Key parts of the report, obtained Friday by the Associated Press, provide further information on North Korea's attempts to evade four rounds of increasingly tough U.N. sanctions aimed at reining in its development of nuclear weapons and the ballistic missiles to deliver them.
While the imposition of sanctions has not halted these programs, the panel said, "it has in all likelihood considerably delayed the (North's) timetable and ... choked off significant funding."
The report to the U.N. Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea recommends imposing sanctions on four North Korean companies and 11 individuals.
