China exported nearly USD$18 million in newly sanctioned items to North Korea in January, recently released figures from the Beijing’s General Administration of Customs show.

UN Resolution 2397, passed on December 22 last year, prohibits countries from sending a wide variety of goods to the DPRK, with everything from machinery, electronics, and vehicles to processed forms of iron and steel now on the UN’s blacklist.

“All Member States shall prohibit the direct or indirect supply… (of) aircraft, pipelines, rail lines, or vehicles and whether or not originating in their territories, of all industrial machinery (HS