Recently, as tangential activities of suspected transshipment between ships continue to be detected in North Korea’s West Sea, an expert panel of the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea announced that they are investigating the location of the ship’s exit and transaction products. However, since the destination of the transshipment is North Korea’s territorial waters, there are said to be practical difficulties in eliminating transshipment. Reporter Ham Ji-ha reports.
Eric Fenton Bock, coordinator of the United Nations Security Council’s Sanctions Committee panel of experts, said he was aware of the VOA report that ship-to-ship transfers were continuing in Chodo waters in North Korea’s West Sea.
In response to a request for comment on the ongoing suspicious transportation in this area, Coordinator Fenton Bock said, “I saw a (VOA) report on ship-to-ship transportation in the sea near Chodo, and this phenomenon also has comment from the latest. report (of the expert panel),” he said.
“This type of behavior is an important means of avoiding punishment,” he added. “It’s important that the public continues to see it.”
Previously, VOA analyzed satellite images from ‘Planet Labs’, taken near Chodo in North Korea’s West Sea, and reported at least 29 suspected cases of transshipment from April this year to today.
“When this type of activity occurs in North Korean territorial waters, it is not easy to stop it,” said Coordinator Fenton Bock.
In the past, North Korea met and exchanged goods with ships from other countries in the sea near Taiwan, but recently, it has engaged in cross-shipping activities in the sea near Chodo, which is the entrance to North Korea’s Nampo Port.
The panel of experts revealed that ships departing from abroad meet North Korean ships at this point, transit them, and then move unknown types of cargo to Nampo, North Korea, in order to avoid sanctions.
“Investigations into these practices are ongoing,” said Coordinator Fenton Bock.
“There is, of course, the possibility that the goods that have been transshipped are not subject to sanctions,” he said, but “the transshipment of any goods by a North Korean ship is a violation of sanctions in accordance with Article 11 of Security Council Resolution 2375 United Nations. ”
“If the ship can be identified, the country from which it departed has a responsibility to act,” he said.
Coordinator Fenton Bork suggested that a detailed investigation be carried out on the cases found in the waters near Chodo, saying, “It seems unlikely that they are transports between North Korean ships.”
This is VOA News Hamjiha.
