SEOUL, May 13 (UPI) -- North Korea sent firearms and 30 military instructors to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to a U.N. report.
The United Nations Security Council Sanctions Committee Concerning Democratic Republic of Congo told the media those were some of the findings from a panel of experts, Kyodo News reported.
Experts said the Congolese troops were supplied with North Korean-made pistols and other weapons, and that the Congolese soldiers carried the firearms with them during U.N. peacekeeping operations.
Pyongyang also supplied the central African country's armed forces with personnel, the Sankei Shimbun reported Friday.
North Korean military instructors, 30 in total, were employed to train special forces in the Congo and instruct the Congolese president's bodyguards.
North Korea is prohibited from exporting weapons under Security Council sanctions resolutions.
Congo, in turn, is obligated to notify the U.N. if it imports weapons from Pyongyang. The African state is technically in violation of U.N. sanctions resolutions.
The report also contained details of how Congolese authorities were able to procure North Korea-made guns, beginning in the first half of 2014, at the chief seaport of Matadi.
North Korea first exported arms to the Congo in December 2009, U.N. records show. In January of that year, Congolese officers investigated a North Korea cargo ship at the port, where they stumbled upon weapons and ammunition.
