A United Nations report says North Korea stole a higher value of cryptocurrency assets in 2022 than in any previous year using increasingly sophisticated techniques. It recommends that the head of the country's agency responsible be sanctioned.

The UN Security Council panel examining sanctions on North Korea released a report on Wednesday covering a period from late July through late January.

It says that a cybersecurity firm assessed that North Korean cybercrime had yielded cryptocurrencies worth over 1 billion dollars in 2022.

Crypto assets stolen by North Korea are believed to help fund its nuclear and missile programs.

The report says the country used increasingly sophisticated cybertechniques, making tracing of stolen assets difficult.

It says hacker groups that are part of the country's Reconnaissance General Bureau were responsible for most of the cyberattacks. The panel recommends the head of the bureau, General Ri Chang Ho, be added to the sanctions list.

It reiterates calls for member states to beef up security measures.

The report also says that in 2022, North Korea launched "at least 73 ballistic missiles and missiles combining ballistic and guidance technologies."

It notes that 42 of those launches, as well as a test of a new solid-fueled ICBM engine, were conducted in the last four months of the year.

The report says such moves "represent a marked acceleration of the country's nuclear weapons programme."