Story highlights Malaysian company Glocom said to be a front for North Korea

UN report claims the firm breached sanctions against Pyongyang

Hong Kong (CNN) If North Korea was indeed behind the public killing of Kim Jong Nam with the highly toxic VX nerve agent, it was a blatant breach of international law on chemical weapons.

However, according to new United Nations report the murder in Malaysia would be just the tip of the iceberg of a huge criminal network set up by Pyongyang to bypass international sanctions.

Through a network of front companies North Korea is "flouting sanctions through trade in prohibited goods, with evasion techniques that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication," according to a report prepared for the UN Security Council and acquired by CNN.

The report said it would be published as a Security Council document by 22 February "in the absence of any objection," but it has not yet been made public.

UN investigators have documented trade in "hitherto unreported items such as encrypted military communications, man-portable air defense systems, air defense systems and satellite-guided missiles" in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

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