North Korea May Be Evading Sanctions By Falsifying Destinations Of Ships Carrying Russian Oil

North Korea has been hit with sanctions repeatedly over its continued nuclear program. Recent sanctions have tried to limit North Korea’s exports, but imports have been sanctioned, as well, leading to shortages of various necessities. On Twitter, Trump even celebrated what he called “long gas lines” in the land of “Rocket Man.”

As cars become more common in North Korea, and the country continues its militarization efforts, fuel becomes more and more important. According to Reuters, North Korea is believed to routinely falsify the identities and then change the destinations of its ships that pick up supplies, like fuel in Russia, and unload the ships back in North Korea as a way to skirt trade sanctions.

Reuters tracked several ships that departed Russia with intended destinations of China or South Korea. However, according to ship-tracking data, the vessels stopped in North Korean ports and then returned to Russia without visiting their original destinations.

Over the summer, the U.S. sanctioned three companies believed to have supplied the diesel fuel or assisted in circumventing the sanctions through money laundering.

Andrey Serbin, a representative of one of the shipping companies sanctioned, was himself sanctioned, but he insists that the fuel was sold to a Chinese company, and that is as far as his firm went on the deal:

“We sold the fuel to a Chinese company,” Serbin, who has been blacklisted by the U.S. government for “operating in the energy industry in the North Korean economy” and working to purchase fuel for delivery to North Korea, said of several shipments where the company acted as middleman.

“There’s no way we can control them (the goods),” he said.

According to ship-tracking data and documents obtained by Reuters, after the newest sanctions against North Korea were announced, several North Korean ships left Russian ports without any cargo.

(Via Reuters)