On 17 July SIPRI published an Expert Comment by Hugh Griffiths and Lawrence Dermody on how North Korea's barter trade violates United Nations sanctions.
They wrote:
On 16 July the President of Panama announced that his country had seized a North Korean ship transporting undeclared military cargo from Cuba destined for North Korea. The cargo consists of missile components, prohibited under the UN arms embargo. However, while the world's media focuses on the illicit missile technology it is the Cuban sugar destined for famine-stricken North Korea that highlights the barter trade that has played a central role in North Korea's relations with countries willing to flout the highly restrictive sanctions regime imposed by the UN Security Council.
The Expert Comment was picked up by Die Welt, Reuters Espana, Deutsche Welle, Voice of America, Actualidad Radio Miami, the Jewish Voiceand many others.
Griffiths was also quoted in multiple international news outlets including Reuters, BBC World News, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Scotsman and NPR ran stories on the issue. Public Radio International ran an audio interview, and the story was featured on Swedish television programme SVT Aktuellt
(9:15 onwards).