US State Department Urges China to Enforce North Korea Sanctions on Suspected Smuggling Vessel

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] The U.S. Department of State has expressed the position that "China must enforce sanctions against North Korea" in relation to North Korean vessels suspected of being involved in coal smuggling recently operating at Chinese ports.

According to Radio Free Asia (RFA) on the 30th, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State stated, "Prohibited activities must cease," and "We urge China to comply with its international obligations to fully implement the United Nations Security Council's sanctions resolutions on North Korea."

This response was given following RFA's request for comment regarding North Korean vessels detected near the Longkou port in Shandong Province, China, earlier this month on the vessel tracking site MarineTraffic.

The spokesperson emphasized, "Sanctions evasion activities enable funding for North Korea's illicit weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs," adding, "This is unacceptable, and we call on China to restrict such activities."

They further noted, "We are paying attention to reports that a significant portion of sanctions evasion activities at sea are occurring within Chinese territorial waters."

However, regarding whether additional sanctions will be imposed on China or North Korea, the spokesperson said, "Generally, we do not pre-announce sanctions."

MarineTraffic reported that the North Korean vessel Minhae-ho stayed at Longkou port until the 3rd of this month and then turned toward Nampo port in North Korea on the 6th, turning off its Automatic Identification System (AIS).

The Taesong 8 was also confirmed to have anchored near Longkou port on the 17th.

These vessels have already been confirmed to have been repeatedly used in China to evade sanctions by smuggling coal out and importing goods such as grain.

Earlier, the UN Security Council's North Korea Sanctions Committee's expert panel report released on the 4th pointed out that Minhae-ho, Taesong 8, and Taepyeong 2 had repeatedly smuggled North Korean coal in Chinese waters in exchange for grain.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.