U.N. panel coordinator urges stepped up focus on North Korea cyber crime

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The coordinator for the U.N. body monitoring enforcement of sanctions on North Korea said on Wednesday a stepped up focus was needed on cybercrime, which had become fundamental to Pyongyang's ability to finance its banned weapons programs.

Eric Penton-Voak, of the U.N. Security Council's Panel of Experts on North Korea, noted that despite the widest sanctions regime ever imposed by the United Nations on a nation state, North Korea had markedly accelerated its missile testing, particularly over the past six months.