North Korea is flouting UN sanctions on oil and gas, engaging in prohibited ballistic missile cooperation with Syria and Burma, and illegally exporting commodities that brought in nearly $200 million in just nine months last year, according to UN experts.

The experts said Pyongyang is still able to access the global financial system through "deceptive practices combined with critical deficiencies in the implementation of financial sanctions."

And it continues to engage in "widespread conventional arms deals and cyber operations to steal military secrets," the panel said.

The experts report to the UN Security Council, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, said North Korean diplomats "continue to play a key role in the country's prohibited programmes."

The council has imposed increasingly tougher sanctions against North Korea in response to its nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The latest resolution in December - in response to the launch of a ballistic missile that Pyongyang says is capable of reaching anywhere on the US mainland - sharply lowered limits on North Korea 's refined oil imports and authorised the inspection and seizure of ships suspected of smuggling banned items including coal and oil to and from the country.