Seven North Korean ships were recently spotted at Longkou Port, China, where minerals are handled.
North Korea’s violations of UN Security Council sanctions by sea continue to occur in North Korea’s West Sea as well, including movements believed to be illegal ship-to-ship transshipment.
On the 15th, Voice of America (VOA) broadcast citing data from the ship operation information website ‘Marine Traffic’, 7 North Korean ships including ‘Cheolbong Coral’, ‘Jaseong 1’, ‘Geumsu 1’ and ‘Buhaeho’ were sent to Longkou Port. reported to have appeared.
Among them, the Buhae and Geumsu 1 were anchored at the inner pier of Longkou Port, and the other five, including the Cheorbong Coral, were staying at the moorings of the port.
Longkou Port, located in Shandong Province, China, is a mineral handling port and has various mineral yards including coal.
The VOA estimated that “North Korean ships have been caught transporting coal from the Longkou Port area on several occasions.”
In a report released by the Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions Committee expert panel in March this year, the North Korean ship Yeonhwa 3, which loaded coal, sailed near Longkou Port, and in August of last year, the hull was underwater while the ‘Suryong Coral’ stayed for regarding two weeks. I have pointed out that the locked height has changed.
VOA reports that, as a result of analyzing satellite images of the 12th of this month by satellite photography company Planet Labs, suspicious movement between ships was detected in the waters regarding 2 km northwest of Chodo in the West Sea of North Korea and regarding 36 km from Nampo. did.
Considering that the two ships in the photo were tangentially tangential to the hull without being in close contact with the hull, VOA said, “There is a possibility that minerals such as coal were loaded and unloaded rather than oil.”
The Security Council banned all exports of North Korean coal through Resolution 2371 on sanctions once morest North Korea adopted in 2017. However, North Korea’s illegal maritime activities continued around 2019, leading to controversy over sanctions violations.
An expert panel of the Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions Committee pointed out that North Korea transported 55,2400 tons of coal to China’s waters and ports on 64 occasions between September 2020 and August 2021.
(Seoul = News 1)
