U.S. Pushes for U.N. Sanctions on Vessels Skirting North Korea Restrictions

The United States has announced plans to seek U.N. sanctions on vessels that are circumventing resolutions designed to curb North Korea's nuclear and missile ambitions. This comes after the Open Source Centre published a report noting that, over the past year, several non-Korean flagged ships have been transporting North Korean coal and iron ore to China, contravening U.N. sanctions. Speaking to the U.N. Security Council, James Byrne, director of the Open Source Centre, highlighted vessels such as the Tanzanian-flagged Armani and Sophia, among others.

Byrne reported the use of advanced 'spoofing' techniques by these vessels, which created digital paths suggesting they were in different countries, even as satellite imagery showed them loading cargo in North Korea. Despite Russia's veto last year on the panel of experts mandated to monitor such violations, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Camille Shea emphasized the Security Council's continued focus on sanctions breaches.

Shea criticized Russia for obstructing sanctions and accused China of ignoring violations, despite Beijing's claims of adherence to U.N. resolutions. Geng Shuang, China's deputy U.N. ambassador, refuted these accusations, while Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzya defended Russia's cooperation with North Korea as a sovereign matter. North Korean ambassador Kim Song also condemned the U.S.'s stance as 'high-handed' and arbitrary.

(With inputs from agencies.)