Seven North Korean vessels have been identified as violating the United Nations (UN) sanctions by transporting key exports such as coal, iron ore, and lead. The U.S. has formally requested that the UN Security Council designate these ships for sanctions.
On July 29, Voice of America (VOA) reported that the U.S. Mission to the UN had asked the Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions Committee (1718 Committee) on July 27 to revoke the flag state of seven vessels and designate them for port entry bans due to UN sanctions violations.
According to the U.S. Mission, these vessels transported North Korean coal and iron ore between December of last year and April of this year. However, UN Security Council Resolution 2371 has completely banned trade in key North Korean exports like coal, iron ore, and lead since 2017.
The vessels reportedly employed various tactics to evade detection, including manipulating Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals and disguising their identities. The seven vessels named in the recent request are the Ostrov Anchiporova, Eversun, Sunfa, Peaceful 8, Dream Wave, Orion, and Prunda 1.
In December of last year, the U.S. had also officially requested UN sanctions on another seven vessels for violating North Korea sanctions. However, no follow-up actions have been taken yet on that request.
The U.S. Mission urged member states to act swiftly on both this request and the one from last December, citing the standard 5-day procedure that allows proposals to pass automatically if no objections are raised within five business days.
Recently, major countries, including the U.S., have publicly addressed North Korea’s attempts to evade maritime sanctions. In May, the U.S., South Korea, Japan, and eight other countries, along with the European Union (EU), issued a joint statement calling for prompt sanctions against vessels involved in North Korea’s maritime sanctions evasion activities.