FILE - In this April 10, 2019, file photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. North Korea has test-fired a "new-type tactical guided weapon," its state media announced Thursday, April 18, 2019, a move that could be an attempt to register the country's displeasure with currently deadlocked nuclear talks with the United States without causing those coveted negotiations to collapse. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

UNITED NATIONS | U.N. experts say they are investigating at least 35 instances in 17 countries of North Koreans using cyberattacks to illegally raise money for its nuclear program — and they are calling for sanctions against ships providing gasoline and diesel to the country.

Last week, The Associated Press reported that North Korea illegally acquired “as much as two billion dollars” from its increasingly sophisticated cyber activities against financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges, quoting the experts’ summary.

Their lengthy report, recently seen by AP, reveals that neighboring South Korea was hardest-hit, the victim of 10 cyberattacks, followed by India with three, and Bangladesh and Chile with two each.

Thirteen countries suffered one attack — Costa Rica, Gambia, Guatemala, Kuwait, Liberia, Malaysia, Malta, Nigeria, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa, Tunisia and Vietnam, it said.

The Associated Press is an independent, not-for-profit news cooperative of 1,300 newspapers, including The Sentinel, headquartered in New York City. News teams in over 100 countries tell the world’s...