North Korea Openly Defies Sanctions With Help From China
In an investigative report released on Thursday, the specialist outlet NK Pro said data from ship-tracking service MarineTraffic found at least five North Korean tankers had entered Chinese waters in July. Four were under U.N sanctions.
A Newsweek map captured their partial tracks utilizing self-reported signal data captured by MarineTraffic and Global Fishing Watch.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment after hours.
North Korea is not banned from importing oil but faces a U.N.-imposed 500,000-barrel cap per year. Countries must report any shipments of fuel to the international body.
Russia faces restrictions on its oil exports including a G7-imposed cap, which Moscow has circumvented this with a sanctions-busting shadow fleet.
The data indicates North Korean vessels were getting oil from Russia's Far East, too, and will continue to get the commodity under the protection of its closest allies, Beijing and Moscow, thus undermining the sanctions regime.
NK Pro said the five North Korean tankers likely sailed to Chinese waters to pick up fuel. They included the U.N.-sanctioned ships Song Won 2, An San 1, Kum Jin Gang 3 and Sin Phyong 9.
The latter three had also frequented an oil pier at Russia's Vostochny Port, in the far-eastern Primorsky region, which is the main hub for North Korean fuel runs, the outlet said.
The fifth vessel, the Chong Ryong San, is not sanctioned but is suspected of transporting petroleum products to North Korea's main port of Nampho and conducting illicit ship-to-ship transfers, according to a U.N. report.
All four blacklisted vessels had broadcast their locations this month off eastern or southeastern China, near the reports of Zhoushan, Taizhou and Fujian.
It was a sign that China was following Russia in rejecting sanctions against North Korea, said Neil Watts, a sanctions specialist and former member of the U.N. Panel of Experts on Pyongyang.
Between March and November 2024, Russia supplied North Korea with over a million barrels of oil, or twice the U.N.-imposed limit, likely in payment for military support, according to the BBC, citing satellite data from the U.K.-based Open Source Center.
Neil Watts, former member of the U.N. Panel of Experts: "The freer movements of North Korean vessels over the last two years, since the start of the war in Ukraine, suggest that China is following Russia in dismissing sanctions against North Korea."
The North Korean tanker movements show Beijing's reluctance to enforce U.N. resolutions barring them from entering foreign ports, according to Watts, who added that such "brazen movements" are likely to continue as they see themselves untouchable under Russian and Chinese protection.
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