If you were Kim Jong-un, you’d be pretty happy right now. North Korea’s third supreme leader is not only the hermit kingdom’s most successful leader – he is also the richest. With the sanctions-stricken country having amassed over $20 billion (£15 billion) in foreign currency earnings as of last year, Kim is at his most emboldened since he took power in December 2011. As more North Korean artillery, missiles, and manpower head in Moscow’s direction to aid its war against Ukraine, Kim knows that for now, North Korea can count on its Cold War patrons of Russia and China for brotherly support. Pyongyang’s neighbours offer a crucial helpline in circumventing international sanctions and ensuring the Kim regime continues to reap rewards.

North Korea is no stranger to evading sanctions. Whether from individual countries such as the United States or from global institutions such as the United Nations, the ruling regime has mastered this art. Ever since Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear test twenty years ago, such efforts to curb the North’s nuclear and missile ambitions have ironically only exacerbated them. Pyongyang has gained infamy for its colourful criticisms of sanctions, deriding them as ‘acts of war’, as part of what it has long called the US’s ‘hostile policy’ aiming to catalyse regime change, and as infringing its right to exist.

Over the years, North Korea’s mastery of sanctions evasion has grown

Over the years, North Korea’s mastery of........

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