The number of North Korean vessels using flags from other countries has reduced sharply following two rounds of sanctions last year, even as the DPRK increasingly turns to illegal methods to hide the origins of its vessels, a leaked UN Panel of Experts (PoE) report outlines.

UN Resolutions passed last year looked to stamp out the DPRK’s long running use of flags of convenience (FOCs), a practice involving registering a ship in a foreign jurisdiction and generally used to skirt labor or environmental regulations.

While the technique is not illegal, North Korea often uses