The effort by Pyongyang-headquartered Ocean Maritime Management Company, Ltd. Is detailed in the report by a panel of experts that monitors sanctions on North Korea.
The UN Security Council holds consultations today on the report, which also says North Korea's government persists with its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of council resolutions.
The council last year imposed sanctions on OMM after Panama in 2013 seized a ship it operated that carried undeclared military equipment from Cuba. Panamanian authorities found two Cuban fighter jets, missiles and live munitions beneath the Chong Chon Gang's cargo of sugar.
But the new report says that in the months after the sanctions were imposed, 13 of the 14 ships controlled by OMM changed their owners and managers, "effectively erasing" the company from a database kept by the International Maritime Organization. Twelve of the ships "reportedly stayed, visited or were sighted near ports in foreign countries" and none were frozen by member states as the panel of experts recommends. The new report says no interdictions of the kind that Panama made in 2013 were reported in the period between Feb. 8 of last year and Feb. 5 of this year.
The report also says diplomats, officials and trade representatives of North Korea continue to "play key roles in facilitating the trade of prohibited items, including arms and related materiel and ballistic missile-related items."
The panel of experts also warns that some UN member states still are not implementing the council resolutions that are meant to keep North Korea from further violations.