A woman walks past a screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a DPRK missile test, at a railway station in Seoul on June 5, 2022. (ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP)
UNITED NATIONS – The Democratic People's Republic of Korea made preparations for a nuclear test during the first six months of this year, according to an excerpt of a confidential United Nations report seen by Reuters on Thursday.
Work at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site paves the way for additional nuclear tests for the development of nuclear weapons … The DPRK continued to develop its capability for the production of fissile material at the Yongbyon site
Independent sanctions monitors
"Work at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site paves the way for additional nuclear tests for the development of nuclear weapons," independent sanctions monitors reported to the UN Security Council North Korea sanctions committee. The DPRK is also referred to as North Korea.
"The DPRK continued to develop its capability for the production of fissile material at the Yongbyon site," the monitors wrote. Yongbyon is the DPRK's major nuclear facility, operating its first nuclear reactors.
The DPRK's UN mission in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the UN report.
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The country has for years been banned from conducting nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by the UN Security Council, which has strengthened sanctions on Pyongyang over the years to try and cut off funding for those programs.
This photo distributed by the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea shows what it says is a test-fire of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, at an undisclosed location in the DPRK on March 24, 2022.
(KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY / KOREA NEWS SERVICE VIA AP)
The monitors said the DPRK launched 31 missiles combining ballistic and guidance technologies, including six intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests and two missiles that it explicitly described as ballistic weaons
"The DPRK made preparations at its nuclear test site, although it did not test a nuclear device. In the first half of 2022, the country continued the acceleration (which began in September 2021) of its missile programs," the monitors said.
They said the DPRK launched 31 missiles combining ballistic and guidance technologies, including six intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests and two missiles that it explicitly described as ballistic weapons.
The DPRK continued imports of oil and exports of coal, evading sanctions, the monitors said.
International talks aimed at convincing the DPRK to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs have largely stalled since 2019.
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In recent years China and Russia have been pushing for an easing of sanctions on North Korea on humanitarian grounds – and in the hope Pyongyang can be convinced to return to negotiations.