sanctions monitor which delivered to the un and was late late yesterday. in the report they say between 2020 and 2021, north korea was responsible for stealing over $50 million worth in a series of heist carried out in north america, europe and asia. that could be on the conservative side because a reference another report which puts the figure as i as $400 million stolen. what you might be wondering if you have been paying attention since the start of the year is how can a country which has launched nine ballistic missiles injanuary alone, an all time record, get its money when it is under crippling un sanctions and trade embargo. this report might hold the answer. a series of crypto heist and online theft and scams. this is not theft and scams. this is not the first time that north korea
nick candy is one of as many as 20 potential investors that remain on board despite yesterday s announcement, which the government insists is only the latest instalment in a much wider package of sanctions against the russian regime. this government, we in this department stand with the people of ukraine, and as i said, i m afraid sanctions have consequences. that s all the sport for now. we ve reported on the sanctions being enforced against russia by other european nations, and the us but they are, of course, not the only countries which do business with moscow. the reaction across asia has been somewhat different. our asia business correspondent mariko oi has been looking at how the regional powerhouses china and india seem to be playing a bit of a waiting game. in the last two weeks, global sanctions on russia have more than doubled, making it the most sanctioned country in the world with more than five and a half thousand actions against it. they dwarfed those imposed on iran,
north korea and syria, but only a few countries in asia have agreed to the punitive measures. for more developed economies like australia, japan, south korea, singapore and taiwan. it was a relatively straightforward decision. they ve largely followed the western led actions against moscow. japan and south korea in particular, also agreed to restrict a russian banks from the global swift financial payment system. but many in the region are holding back. the countries in orange on this map have refused to join the un resolution to condemn russia s invasion of ukraine and key among them china. i do not think it will criticise russia directly or indirectly, and i do not think it will break with russia. they both share a discomfort with a western dominated international order. however, china is much more invested in that order, much more integrated with it than russia. for russia, china is its largest
trading partner for china, the us, european, europe,japan, these are much more important markets than russia. but russia also has complex ties with many countries in asia. it supplies oil and gas and military equipment to india, vietnam, indonesia and malaysia, while south korea must work with both russia and china to counter any threats from north korea. if you look at india, the largest democracy in the world. and in a normal situation, you would have expected india to have condemned the russian invasion india did not. nations are more driven by the same own economic interests than the larger principles. we always expect to play a more important role like a sovereign country, democratically elected government invaded by a bigger neighbour. as india s former ambassador to russia, pankaj saran tweeted, whose side is india on? we re on our side. economies here are no stranger to having to take sides. they ve been walking that fine line
covid i9 pandemic, these countries are facing the challenge of keeping their economic recovery on track, but it isn tjust omicron that will affect growth going forward. our asia business correspondence mariko oi explains what factors will affect the region s economies in 2022. let s start with what affects all of us. spoiler alert, some of the topics may sound like a sequel from 2021. firstly, things are getting more expensive wherever you are, and to call off inflation, brace for rate hikes this year. in case you have not had enough of it, inflation is partly caused by global supply chain issues. we saw a huge surge in demand for everything as the world s economy started to reopen last year, and supplyjust couldn t keep up. ports got congested, containers couldn t find any space to dock, and the world started to run out of warehouse space. speaking of too much