To avoid sanctions, North Korean ships often switch names
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New York: As Washington and Seoul try to maintain a unified front against North Korea, the case of two cargo ships shows how Kim Jong-un’s regime keeps finding ways to evade increasingly tough international sanctions aimed at halting its nuclear weapons program.
Both vessels have gone through repeated changes of names and owners, part of an international shell game that has undercut the escalating sanctions led by the US and backed by the United Nations. President Donald Trump’s administration has vowed to maintain its “maximum pressure” campaign on North Korea even as America’s ally, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, pursues a fragile detente sparked by the Olympics.
Crewmen of the North Korean cargo vessel Jin Teng stand on the middle of the deck as it unloads its cargo while docked at Subic Bay, in the Philippines.
Photo: AP
North Korea earned almost $US200 million in the first nine months of last year from banned commodity exports, providing crucial foreign currency for the isolated regime, according to a confidential United Nations report, portions of which were seen by Bloomberg News. The panel of experts who wrote the study said Kim’s regime had shipped coal to ports in Russia, China, South Korea, and Vietnam, mainly using false paperwork and front companies that concealed the origin of the coal.
The banned exports and imports are transported on vessels flagged by countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Hong Kong. Sanctioned ships take on new flags, new companies are created to mask ownership and the vessels get new identities. Then they keep plying the same waters. That was the case with the two ships, the Jin Teng and the Jin Tai 7.
The Jin Teng, sanctioned by the US in March 2016, became the Shen Da 8 and then the Hang Yu 1 last November, according to Kharon, a Los Angeles-based firm that identifies sanctions risks for banks and companies. The Jin Tai 7, also sanctioned by the US in March 2016, changed its name to Sheng Da 6 two months later and then to Bothwin 7 last November, Kharon said. That was before a new round of UN sanctions was agreed on in December. Both ships remain on the US’s sanctions list despite the name changes.
Article source: http://watoday.com.au/markets/us-factory-activity-accelerates-to-near-threeyear-high-20170703-gx3ygf.html
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