Japan has imported more than $26,000 worth of goods from North Korea in recent years, analysis of Japanese customs records shows, despite a long-standing ban on imports from the DPRK that aims to cut off funding for its weapons programs.

Tokyo has prohibited all imports originating or shipped from North Korea since 2006, a consequence of the DPRK’s first nuclear test that year and its ongoing weapons development. And as recently as 2018, the Japanese government told the U.N. Security Council that this measure had prevented the supply, sale, transfer and procurement from North Korea of “any items