The US accused North Korea of breaching the UN sanctions on refined petroleum, as illegal transfers between ships at sea took place. As a result, the US demanded an immediate stop to all sales of the fuel.
As Reuters reported, the US submitted a complaint to the UN Security Council North Korea sanctions committee. The country said that the above transfers, are breaching the UN sanctions.
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North Korea depends on imported fuel to sustain its much troubled economy, and did not provide any comment on the US accusations.
The US said that until May, 89 North Korean tankers had imported illegally obtained petroleum during ship-to-ship transfers. US did not mention which countries are providing North Korea with petroleum, but it did mention two cases of such ship-to-ship transfers, which involved a Russian-flagged and a Belize-flagged ship.
The UN Security Council has unanimously advanced sanctions on North Korea since 2006, in order to obstruct North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Namely, the UN has banned exports including coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood, and capped imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products.
In addition, UN has blacklisted dozens of ships and shipping companies over oil and coal smuggling by North Korea.
